


Sirius Black and the Reversal of Fate

by tsukkuyomi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Time Travel, What-If, because sirius plans on fixing it all, first year, gryffindor-slytherin friendship, interhouse friendship, sirius died and went back in time, sirius driven fix-it, so yeah major character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29203239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukkuyomi/pseuds/tsukkuyomi
Summary: Sirius Orion Black's Revisted First Year To-Do List:-Befriend James, Remus and Peter again-Fix whatever fucked up mental problem made Peter go darkside-Prevent the war between the Marauders and Snivellus-I mean Severus-Try not to get put into Slytherin-Get good grades-Don't let people know I'm a time traveler!-Decide who my first snog is going to~~~~Sirius Black died in the year 1996 at the hands of his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange.... And woke up in the year 1971, an eleven year old about to go to Hogwarts for his first year. At first convinced it was all a dream, he is mystified by a few hard to ignore facts that make it clear that none of it was a dream. Faced by a future of pain and imprisonment, loss and darkness, he makes his decision: change the future by correcting as many mistakes as possible. But can one boy really change the course of history? And what of the people around him, those who are fated to hate him and those fated to love him?*
Comments: 15
Kudos: 51





	1. Time Travel by Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius Black died that night in the Ministry. Then woke up back in the very beginning; what will he make of the life he has before him, one he knows is destined for tragedy if he does nothing?

Dying was not a problem but he wasn't actually certain that dying was what he was doing in the moment. It felt suspiciously like floating, like he had slipped back into a welcoming pool of something, not quite water, not quite air, and there he was. There he had always been maybe, there he'd always be.

He remembered a past though as he continued to simply exist in the space of otherwise nothingness; it was blurry and lost but he remembered people, voices that called to him, individuals who knew him. Flashes of scenes: a castle covered in snow, a moonlit night where a pained voice howled, laughter through torch lit hallways, faces that smiled and called him by name. Padfoot...Padfoot.... And then darkness, screaming, anger; a man he used to know that he knew no longer, friends lost, betrayal felt that sent shocks through his body that only warranted more memories to assault him.

The boy was alive, Harry was safe; that golden moment when they met again and Harry learned the truth, the feeling of freedom as he rode Buckbeak, the feeling of imprisonment when he could no longer roam again. War erupting and that man returning. He, Sirius Orion Black, Padfoot, Snuffles, he remembered and though still he floated, he couldn't bring himself to just give in again. He couldn't just become a part of whatever this was, he couldn't just forget again. But choices were....limited, weren't they? Because he was dying, dead, and there was no resurrection for him.

 _But_ , he told himself as he continued to remember right up to the moment that accursed cousin of his had shot him and he had started falling; _if I did have the choice, I'd fix everything that went wrong._

That's when Sirius woke with a start, covered in sweat and staring up at a dark ceiling. His heart was racing and for a time he just felt wrong, like everything about him was wrong: his hair, his eyes, his ears, his hands, his feet, every inch of skin and every beat of his heart. He didn't understand any of it, or why so vividly the images of a life of laughter and pain clung to his eyelids, but a shrill angry voice ripped through his revelry and brought him to what felt like it had to be real life. He lifted his hands and saw before him ones he barely recognized; smaller than he remembered, cleaner than he remembered. He turned them over but there was nothing that felt so familiar or as him as he knew to be true. A thought crossed his mind and he threw himself from the bed, rushing towards the nearest mirror, eyes widening as he stared at the face reflected back at him.

A child, a child looked back. Well he recognized it as being his face as a kid but still, the strangeness of it when his memories told him he was far older than this, that he had lived a life full of experiences, managed by some miracle to survive though Azkaban, died trying to do what was right.

Died.

For a second that single word resonated in his head like an echo chamber and he was left with a headache for his troubles. What he remembered was in conflict with what he saw: a young boy, likely no older than eleven, with bedhead dark hair and a face that in a few years would likely be handsome but for now was best categorized, to his horror, as “cute”. Grey eyes that caught the light and they still had a spark to them, life that had not been trampled by decades of trouble and difficulty, and a form that was just on the crux of starting towards it's growth spurt. All in all Sirius Black in his early youth and not the man his mind kept telling him he really was.

“A dream?” Even his voice felt off but it hadn't changed yet he figured. He felt dizzy and uncertain but he tried to reason it away with it being all a dream, that it had to just have been a very stubborn dream. He didn't die after being wrongly imprisoned, he didn't have to be unable to save his best friend or prevent another from falling to darkness, he didn't have to fight tooth and nail only to fall at the hands of his insane cousin. Sirius didn't have to suffer.

Somehow this caused tears and the boy furiously wiped at his eyes to make them go away. Relief was the primary feeling he found inside but there was something more too, something deeper. He thought of the boy with James' features but Lily's eyes and he felt...lost. But the boy was simply a good part of a bad dream; he ran a hand through his hair and looked at himself again in the mirror, examined and really took in the face that looked at him, getting more familiar as his mind pushed back the tendrils of that long painful nightmare. He was alive and all of that had been a dream.

“Sirius Orion Black, you better be out of bed!” His mother's voice called at him, still angry, still self-important, still grating. He winced some and tried to remember what today was but his mind was blanking at that moment. Footsteps down the hall told him that either Walburga actually deigned to come check on her wayward firstborn herself or more likely she had sent Kreacher. Neither choice much interested him and he shuddered for a moment, more out of repulsion than fear. A single thought crossed his mind, a fragment from that bad dream; running free, transforming, shaggy fur and heavy paws. An Animagus; he was an Animagus in his dream, at least that was cool. _If only that much was true._

The door to the bedroom opened and the imposing figure of the matriarch of the Black family strode inside, prepared to give Sirius yet another piece of her mind. Late to get up, late to come to breakfast, always backtalking, always trouble; it was a saving grace that they had Regulus, such a good obedient boy, but it was a continuing shame that the heir to the Great and Ancient Black Family had to be such an useless child. It took her only a moment to realize that her son seemed not to be there, the room quiet and still save for the slight rustling of the bed skirt; she narrowed her eyes and turned to leave with a sore expression upon her stern face. The door closed with a slam and the noise echoed.

Minutes passed and her voice could be heard yelling in search of her “worthless son”. It was only when it was clear she had put distance between her and the room that there was further shuffling of the sheets and out from under the bed a shaggy haired black puppy crawled out. Intelligent gray eyes stared out and searched the room; it's ears lay flat against its head, it's tail slumped as it pulled itself clear from under the mess of a bed but once free it tried to stand and shook out it's fur. Dust fluttered about, as well as bits of lint and as it was fur as well.

He transformed back to human after another moment and sat there on the floor, staring once more with a blank look. In the seconds following his thinking about being a dog he had turned into one, transformed from his child form to that of the form he had seen in his dream. Yes, he was smaller, a puppy rather than the large matted fur beast that he had been, but it changed nothing: he had turned into a dog, he had done something that at this age he should have no ability to do. He had become an animal. He was an Animagus.

It was impossible and the implications caused his head to spin and to hurt further; he curled up, gripping his head in both hands as he tried to make sense of what his mind was telling him and what he wanted to believe. The memories of the man accused of betraying their best friends, he didn't want to think those were real. But the boy was an Animagus, he had just transformed, done something that he had seen there and should have been unable to do now. His body shook and he hated to feel so weak, to feel scared, but his death especially replayed in his mind, and the deaths of those two known as James and Lily Potter, and he couldn't help how painful it felt. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to lose them, he didn't want that to be his future.

“No,” he muttered to himself and to the world, alone in the confines of his bedroom in Grimmauld Place, “No...I don't....I refuse...”

 _But if I did have the choice, I'd fix everything that went wrong._ A voice said it in his head and he knew it as his own from his dreams, the him he was destined it seemed to become. The last ditch wish of a dying man.

Walburga was still looking for him and his father's voice had joined in, sounding quite displeased. Sirius looked at his hands and he saw the hands of someone young, someone who had their whole life ahead of them, someone who had potential. If the memories were true then the real bad things weren't for another few years; in five he'd run away from home, in ten those two would be dead and he'd be imprisoned. Twenty three til his escape, twenty four until his reimprisonment for his own good, twenty five until his death. Twenty five years to fix, twenty five years to alter. A grandiose assumption to make that the future could be changed but he didn't want to die and he didn't plan on being so weak as to do nothing knowing the path his life seemed to be on.

“Sirius!” His name screamed again and this time he got up. In the corner of his eye he glimpsed his own reflection and there, there still was that spark of life. And more than a little mischief.

He went to the door, opening it and called out. “Coming, oh mother dearest!”

Padfoot would not go down without a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Look sometimes, sometimes the plot bunnies win. Or is it plot puppies in this case? Either way welcome to a new fic; I'm still working on my usual but I felt like a little break and got a brand new laptop for mobile writing that I decided, what the hell, how about writing something interesting that's been bouncing around in my head?  
> This might come out a bit weird; I apologize for that. And I apologize for any mischaracterizations or anything I messed up on accident. I did research but I mainly had to go by ear on this one. Hopefully you guys don't mind?  
> Anyway until the next time, kudos are love, comments are appreciated, and Sirius deserves a better life.  
> Bye-bi!~)


	2. Meetings on the Train

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius takes the first steps towards trying to fix the future. In the process he starts to collect the people important and without realizing it already makes ripples upon the sea of time.

By the time he found himself dragged into King's Crossing by his less than pleased parents, Sirius had only the barest idea of a plan and no sense of how he was going to implicate it or even a way to figure out how to expand it. He had memories but those were not especially helpful in the specifics; truthfully while he remembered a lot of the time in the few years before his death, this time when he was a kid and starting at Hogwarts were a little more hit and miss.

His parents were not happy when he finally decided to come out to see them and the following hour or so was equally full of disgusted scolding and being told over and over, and one more time for good measure, that he better be a Slytherin. Sirius remembered that much; he tried his best not to smirk as he was yelled at to go get his luggage, get ready to get to the platform, brush his hair, stop being such a disappointment. He caught his brother watching him and he stuck his tongue out at the younger boy, causing him to recoil slightly with a furrowed brow; seconds after he found himself thinking about Regulus.

His brother wasn't in his future memories but he got the sense it didn't end well. He wasn't too sure what to feel about that; on one hand, Regulus was their parents' golden child, the one that actually acted how they wanted, thought the way they wanted. He was a year younger but he was in many ways the better heir and Sirius was aware of that. But Regulus was just a kid right now, a ten year in body and mind under the thumb of their parents for another year. He didn't have the memories of a life ahead of him to change his perspective; Sirius did. Sirius knew what was to come, the war, the pain, the deaths, and he knew that if his brother was not in those most clear of memories, not even talk of him, then that could only mean that Sirius outlived Regulus.

Did Regulus really deserve to die young? Did any of the victims of the war to come deserve it? A shiver went through his body and he wrapped his arms around himself for a second before shaking his head.

But any answer to how to prevent that, a thing he had no actual memory of as well all the things he did, did not come easy and as he walked through Platform 9 3/4's, his mother haughtily commenting on the other parents and students, on the state of things, on him of course becoming a Slytherin, Sirius' mind was stuck on the threads he could pull. He didn't know what his first step was supposed to be; if he planned on changing anything then where was he even supposed to start?

“Sirius, are you listening to us?” Walburga's voice tried to rip through his thoughts but Sirius was preoccupied with his own death.

“Not really, mother,” he answered and felt a sharp slap across his face; no one stopped, no one looked. The Black family was free to do as they pleased and it was discipline for an insolent child; it just deepened an old hatred that only had doubled with his return to his past. Five more years until he was destined to leave but he hoped he could run earlier; for now he had nowhere else to go. That warm place he remembered would not be open to him yet, he'd have to find James first.

“Try not to disgrace us, boy.” Orion's voice always sounded so cold, he didn't miss that much; Sirius instinctively straightened but didn't answer. There really were no answers for that, no way he could really prevent doing anything that could disappoint them, because he couldn't bring himself to even pretend to be apart of the disgustingness of pure blood supremacy.

He simply nodded and once given leave he made his way onto the train. There was a great relief to being able to be away from his parents but the more critical issue was still hanging over his head. Kids laughed and stepped into compartments, in groups, as singles, and he was truck by how many people knew each other. He knew plenty of them too but he didn't really have an interest in most of them; a few names flashed to mind, the ones from his memories, those precious people who he cared so much about that their deaths were as traumatic as his own to him. But he had no idea how to find them immediately; this was the first year, the first time, and there was nothing in the memories that told him where to go first, what to do first.

He was still trying to figure things out as he went inside a compartment of his own, finding it empty. Perfect for his uses right now; he settled his luggage and flopped down onto a chair, slumping back and closing his eyes for a moment. There were so many voices outside, stomping footsteps and sporadic crashes and yelling. And in his own head he was swimming in all sorts of thoughts; part of him was tempted to transform into his dog form, remembering how freeing it honestly felt just being an animal, but considering how troublesome it might end up being if anyone noticed he settled for human.

The sound of the door sliding open caused him to open an eye; seeing the two forms in the doorway made him open the other. They were both about his age but they couldn't be more different than one another; the girl was bright, smiling, with hair the color of fire. Her companion was darker, in both hair and in demeanor, looking at Sirius with an extraordinary amount of suspicion in his dark eyes. Yet it was the girl's eyes that struck him the most; emerald green, and he immediately remembered seeing them before, multiple times, over and over in those memories. Both in her face and the face of his future godson.

“Oh hello,” Lily Evans said smiling, “Got room for two more?”

“Lily,” said Severus Snape, and seeing him Sirius couldn't help a mixture of emotions, contradictions in and of themselves that made him unsure of what he wanted.

She looked to him and blinked before chuckling and tugging on his arm. “It's fine, Sev, he looks like a nice person,” she then turned to Sirius, causing him to straighten up some, “You are a nice person, right?”

That...was a loaded question, even if the eleven year old girl couldn't possibly be trying to be. He had plenty of memories of not being one but he had always believed he was better than most still. _But_ , spoke a little voice in his head; _if you're serious about wanting to change the future and how things turn out, couldn't you just do better this time around at being a good person? Starting with your greatest victim..._

Severus stood by Lily, still watching Sirius and it occurred to him that maybe the boy was waiting for an answer. Sirius tried to smile in response and nodded, sitting up. “Yeah of course. You guys can definitely stay here if you want. I'm Sirius Black.”

“Thanks Sirius,” she said beaming and before Severus could say another word in protest she dragged him and their luggage inside; the gloomy boy stumbled a bit but it seemed to Sirius that he was well used to his friend occasionally doing things like that.

The two started to put their things away and then plopped down across from him, side by side; Lily seemed to realize something and her face reddened some. “Oh we almost forgot to introduce ourselves, that's rude of us. I'm Lily, Lily Evans, and this is my best friend Severus.”

“Severus Snape,” Severus spoke still looking at him like he expected the other boy to bite him; great, he already was paranoid.

“Severus and Lily, cool,” Sirius answered trying to keep up a friendly air. It was easy enough with Lily; she seemed like the type who made friends easily, a sweet warm person who made it hard not to like her. But Severus gave the sense of someone who was always on edge, always prepared for something; it took him a moment but he realized that there was some similarity there to himself. The Black Family home was not an easy place to grow up, especially for a boy who didn't believe in the inherent superiority of those who called themselves “pureblood”.

Lily chuckled and knocked her shoulder against Severus'. “I just call him Sev, it's shorter.”

“Is it okay that I call you Sev too?” It felt kind of weird coming out of his mouth but he assured himself that each step was necessary. A part of him, the part that came with all the memories and the Animagus ability, bristled and disapproved, distrusted and seemed even to hate Severus. But there was just so many emotions around this one boy, this singular dark haired figure who seemed so entrenched in pain and distrust of his own, and the eleven year old Sirius just wanted to make a friend who didn't want to tell him how terrible muggleborns were.

Severus hesitated and this was not surprising, nor did Sirius push it. He waited, he could wait, and when the answer didn't seem to be coming any time soon he nodded as if he understood, all while ignoring the part of him that said being too friendly would end badly. “So...what House are you thinking you'll be?”

“Slytherin of course!” Lily said with all the joy and innocence of a child who had no idea what she was talking about; Severus smiled for the first time and Sirius realized how difficult this could actually be. Right, Severus was a Slytherin in his future past memories, but Lily being one didn't match up. Odd.

“Slytherin?” Sirius asked doing his best not to sound disturbed but young or old it was hard to shake the part of him that recoiled.

“Slytherin is the best House after all,” Severus said sniffing, “Noble and capable.”

“Sev has told me all about it since we were little,” Lily added, “About the four Houses and how Slytherin is the best, all the best wizards are part of it including Merlin himself.”

Well it wasn't a lie about Merlin but Sirius' stomach turned, recognizing this particular sort of rhetoric. It was what his family had tried drilling into him for years, the battle cry of the Slytherin. They were the best, they were the strongest, they were the only truly worthwhile House. It brought back only the worst memories and he didn't like that. He opened his mouth to speak.

“What are you talking about?! Slytherin isn't the best House, they're all wankers; Gryffindor is the best!” But the voice that spoke wasn't his own but someone else's. The trio turned to look to see a fourth individual had joined them; wild black hair that looked like it never got brushed, hazel eyes staring out behind circular glasses, the sort of aura of a person who knew their own worth maybe a little too much but unlike his family there was no inherent malice there.

Sirius' heart skipped a beat and the world seemed to stop. James, that was James, James Potter; the man who he would spend years running around Hogwarts with, the one who he would spend many nights learning how to be an Animagus, his best friend, his best ally. Who was destined to die at the age of twenty-one because of darkness beyond either of their control. He was young and innocent and boisterous; he came into the compartment with the force of a tornado and made his claim to the disapproval and increased distrust of Severus. Lily just looked at the newcomer and Sirius half expected...something, he wasn't sure what, but he honestly knew it was ridiculous. It wouldn't be for years until they actually got together; today they were just two strangers meeting for the first time on the train.

“Gryffindor are the wankers,” Severus grumbled, causing James to narrow his eyes in displeasure.

“Now now,” Lily said trying to keep the peace, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if they are rude and decide to force their way into conversations that didn't involve them,” she gave James a stern look, one Sirius was sure he had never seen on such a young soul before and based on the way he reacted neither had James.

The boy had enough sense to look embarrassed, even if just a little; without another thought he plopped down beside Sirius, huffing. “At least Gryffindor isn't full of dark wizards.”

“Dark wizards?” Lily asked and Severus frowned deeply.

“Yeah,” he said and seeming to have regained some of his bravado he nodded, “Everyone knows that Slytherin is where all the dark wizards come from. No dark wizard has ever come from the other Houses.”

The future told Sirius otherwise but he choose to bite his tongue on this matter. Lily looked to Severus who continued to glare at James and she bit her lip. “I never heard anything like that. Still not everyone who's been in Slytherin has been a bad person I'm sure.”

“They sure as hell haven't been good people,” James continued, crossing his arms over his chest.

The atmosphere in the compartment for the most part became rather tense with that and as the train whistle went off, signaling that they were about to depart, Sirius was left wondering how he was going to survive this ride, not to mention this year, with such animosity about.

It occurred to him then that he still hadn't mentioned his thoughts and for a second he wondered if he really should. Would it really make anything better to talk or would it just make it worse? Again he wished he could just turn into a dog and not deal with human existence. But that, he fully understood, was a Bad Idea and would not work.

So instead he opened his mouth again and this time got words out. “I think if someone wants to be a Gryffindor or a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw that's good for them. Each House is different and while yeah Slytherin has some bad history, it's not like being Slytherin automatically makes you evil.” The propoganda did that; the constant air of superiority, the belief that they were the best, that everyone else was lesser, that caused problems.

“But Gyffindor,” James started furrowing his brow.

“You barged in to try to yell down Lily and Severus' feelings on what House is right for them; that doesn't seem like very good behavior to me,” Sirius responded and James, wide eyed, stared at him; he then smiled, “You meant well but so did Lily; you should apologize.”

James sputtered but Sirius knew how this would end, without memories of the future. The boy took a deep breath but turned to face Lily and Severus, both watching him very carefully. He gulped. “I'm...sorry. I didn't mean to be mean; I guess if you guys want to be Slytherins that's fine.”

“We don't need your approval,” Severus said annoyed and Lily elbowed him hard, making him wince and rub his arm, “But thanks...”

Lily smiled. “It's big of you to apologize, um....”

“James Potter,” James said grinning himself, “I'm gonna be in Gryffindor.”

“Of course you are,” Severus grumbled and Sirius chuckled some.

James then turned to Sirius and nudged him with his arm. “What about you? You don't seem to have told us what your House is gonna be.”

“Mate, I haven't even told you my name yet,” Sirius said unable to help but grin in return though.

“You're Sirius Black, I know who you are; we've never met but every pureblood family knows about the Black Family,” James said then furrowed his brow again, “Which means you'll likely be Slytherin too like the rest of your family, right?”

“An entire lineage of Slytherin?” Lily asked blinking, “Is that really true?”

Sirius tried not to show how little he wanted to talk about his family but it still snuck through. He shook his head, trying not to dwell. “No, actually, I'm planning to be Gryffindor myself. I'm not exactly like the rest of my family.”

In more ways than originally as it was. He'd been Gyffindor before, he planned on being Gryffindor now but this time for more than just to defy his family or prove he wasn't one of them. It just seemed like the right path if he wanted to fix what went wrong. The one who actually betrayed them was going to be in Gryffindor after all and he would need to be there to best be able to redirect them. But at least, he told himself as conversation moved on and names were properly exchanged so everyone knew each other, he'd already taken what seemed to be the first necessary step. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Soooo yeah, this XD I ended up mostly thinking over how I wanted Sirius to make his first contact with the others and who it would be. In the end I went with Lily and Sev first, allowing James to interrupt like the born troublemaker he is.  
> I apologize for any ooc; I do try and I thought over how each would interact but no one is perfect. Hopefully this fic is turning out well so far and I'll see how well it's received before I consider working on it more. Until next time though, remember that kudos are love, comments are appreciated, and Slytherin or Gryffindor, we are all proud students of Hogwarts. Bye-bi!~)


	3. Sorting Out Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sorting ceremony begins and Sirius makes another important decision for the future. But eleven year olds have the right to act out sometimes.

Sirius did not try to find Remus Lupin; Remus Lupin found them.

By the time the train had come into station many things had come out: Lily was a muggleborn, her and Severus lived near each other and had for years, James' family was rich and old but he was an only child much like Severus, James was a pureblood like Sirius but was raised with the mentality he'd had to come to on his own that blood meant nothing. Severus never mentioned his; Sirius didn't push on it though part of him was curious. He didn't think he knew even in the future what Severus was, it didn't matter that much to him then, it didn't matter much to him now. The boy who sat opposite of him, occasionally chiming in when Lily said something, was already not the same as he remembered, things already were changing.

The quartet left the train together, Lily deciding that she liked the two strange purebloods even if James was difficult at times. And Sirius didn't mind at all, feeling rather content in walking onto the platform with three people who didn't seem to want to yell him about honor or tell him how great their family was. Lily was giggling over something Severus had said to him, Severus was smiling gently at his best friend, and James kept looking like a kid in a candy store, looking around with wonder. Sirius couldn't blame him.

He didn't remember the very first time but it certainly felt like it to him; the small crowd of students smashed together, the first years being herded away by a massive man who had to have giant's blood in him. He seemed jovial enough and Sirius nudged James, gesturing over before the two started directing Lily and Severus to join as well.

And that's when it happened. Sirius was half distracted by making sure they all stayed together, not wanting to lose track of everyone yet, when he knocked into someone. Stumbling back he fell into someone else and heard a weak voice whimper and the same voice speak, “Are you alright?”

He looked up at the weary and young face of his second best friend, in the future at least. The scars that would litter his face later in life were less numerous but still there, giving the boy a more pained look than an eleven year old should; shaggy light brown hair framed said face, slightly on the long side though Sirius thought it rather suited him to tell the truth. Deep green eyes stared down at him and it occurred to him the boy always looked far more tired and wisened than any person should. His clothes hung off him, not because of them being inherently too large but because as Sirius knew his body was frail from the transformations. A child who went through hell every month for most of their life but someone Sirius couldn't help but be happy to see.

Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius realized that he had no moved nor had he answered the inquiry; quickly he righted himself and nodded. “I'm fine; what about you, I didn't hurt you are anything did I?”

The other boy seemed surprised by the question and quickly shook his head. “No, I'm fine.”

“Are you sure?” Sirius said and took the opportunity to lean in close, examining Remus and causing him to straighten and try to step away but couldn't in the crowd, “You look pretty sickly to me.”

“Th-that has nothing to do with you knocking into me, now could you please take a step away?”

An adult might take the request to heart but Sirius was going to have to indulge in the carelessness of a child; after all he'd managed, by some miracle of chance, to literally knock into one of the people he needed to find. He wasn't going to let Remus go that easily; grinning he grabbed hold Remus' hand, making more confusion and, taking a page from Lily's book, dragged him off.

In the span of that whole conversation James, Lily and Severus had managed to get pretty easily away from him and the whole mass of first years were being joisted towards what looked to be tiny boats. The other students had all been ushered to carriages it seemed, leaving the newcomers to take the special route; Sirius zeroed in on the location of his other friends and dragging Remus onto the boat he spoke, “Hey, sorry I'm late.”

All three looked at him and while Lily and Severus, observant as they were, first took notice of the boy Sirius was dragging along, James seemed focused on Sirius first. “Hey mate, where you been? We were just about to leave.”

“Got knocked about, fell into this bloke,” Sirius said and raised the hand holding onto Remus' akin to some kind of victory pose; Remus looked completely blank, resigned to this strange new existence he had been dragged in.

“You....kidnapped a kid,” Lily said and James, realizing what was happening now, burst out laughing.

“I mean is it really kidnapping if I'm a kid too?” Sirius asked.

“Yes, yes it is,” Remus interjected in a far calmer voice than he should probably have at this point; he managed to get free of Sirius' grip but didn't run. Straightening himself up he frowned, “So tell me, why did you drag me here?”

The answer Sirius wanted to give was “Because you're destined to become one of my absolute best friends, one of the few who didn't die but did go through hell and I didn't want to lose you when I just found you”. This was of course not the answer he could give; for one, the idea of telling anyone he had memories from the future, that he could use his Animagus form despite not actually learning that skill for another four years, went beyond stupid. People would think him crazy, the ones he actually cared about would think he was crazy, and he did not want to be seen as crazy. Time travel wasn't an impossibility in their world but this wasn't a Time Turner situation; he had died and come back in time for what seemed honestly to be no reason. Sure he made his own but when he let himself think too much on it, this whole situation was bordering on extraordinary. But he didn't dwell, he didn't want to and he sure as hell wasn't going to now.

“You looked like you were lonely” was the response that did come out though. This caused all four other kids to stare at them. The giant man called out for everyone to get aboard the boats and Sirius did so, followed soon by Remus, and the silence continued for a time. Honestly Sirius wasn't sure if he preferred it this way or not; it felt fundamentally wrong for five eleven year olds to be quiet but at the same time he did not mean to blurt out such a thing. It was true but it didn't mean he had to say it.

Fortunately concerns over awkwardness were shoved aside as they got their first view of Hogwarts. The castle was a sight in all the best ways: set against the scenery of trees and starlit skies, looming over them, there were sounds of awe all about him. But for him there was something more there, a deep feeling that caused his chest to feel like it was going to cave in on itself; Hogwarts stood there and it looked to him like an old friend welcoming him back, a safe haven telling him he was home.

Someone nudged him and he looked at Remus who made a point of rubbing his eyes. Sirius did the same and was surprised to find tears; his face reddened but the werewolf only smiled meekly in return.

“Thanks,” Sirius muttered and Remus shrugged.

“For what?” It was hard not to smile at that, at Remus; fragile as he seemed Sirius had to remember that it was far from the truth. In many ways he was the strongest of the Marauders, physically, emotionally, psychologically. Even as a child, dragged off by a stranger, among a bunch of other kids with a secret like his, he was strong.

Sirius shrugged too then looked to Hogwarts again and felt at peace for the first time since waking up that morning. There was a lot of bad things in his future but until then he had seven years of this wonderful, dangerous school and he intended to make the most of it.

The boats docked and there was a figure he couldn't scrub from his memory even if he tried. The stern face of Professor Minerva McGonagall looked upon the youngsters very much like a cat looking upon tasty mice, or maybe that was his interpretation. His mind brought up countless times, over and over, of him and his friends being forced to stand before her in her office, scolded for this prank or that prank, messing with the quills in class, releasing a bunch of nibblers into the Potions dungeon to listen to the Slytherins scream, picking on Severus. The disappointment on their Head of House's face, for he remembered she was the Head of Gryffindor House, was burned into his memories and as the first years all started to line up, he found himself unwilling to make eye contact with the one woman who truly and utterly had his respect and fear. Walburga Black was a monster but Minerva McGonagall had taught the Marauders and no one messed with their favorite teacher.

“ 'ere they are, Professor,” the giant man spoke and Professor McGonagall nodded.

“Thank you Hagrid.” Right, his name was Hagrid, how in Merlin's beard had that slipped Sirius' mind? Too much information to parse through he supposed but the man was a good one; he watched as Hagrid smiled in response to the professor's gratitude then headed inside for the feast. Leaving the students with her.

Again she looked at them and James leaned towards Sirius, whispering, “Wow last time I saw my mom give me that kind of look was when I accidentally ripped up her flower bed trying out my toy broom when I was seven.”

“Is she going to kill us?” whimpered another kid's voice and Sirius glanced over to see a pudgy ratty looking boy.

His mind immediately came to attention but before he could do or say anything, he heard an all-too-familiar clearing of the throat and he almost got whiplash turning his head to look at Professor McGonagall. Whether or not she heard what was said, she didn't look any more or less stern. She gestured and they followed as she walked inside of the grand and ancient castle. “I will be showing you to the Great Hall now where you will be Sorted into the House you will be spending the next seven years as a part of. These Houses are of course Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin; each are full of history, with generations of history's greatest witches and wizards having been a part of them.”

The castle was warmer than he expected and he looked about at the burning torches, the Grand Staircase, the stone walls, and the faint sound of voices coming further in. He didn't notice immediately that Remus, James, Lily and Severus were still by his side the whole time.

“While you are here,” Professor McGonagall continued, “your House shall be like your family; your accomplishments will earn you points, any misbehavior will cost you points,” as she said this they passed by a group of four massive hourglasses, glittering with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds each, “At the end of the year your House's points will be tallied and the House with the most will be rewarded the House Cup. Though I do hope you will see your time here as more than a collection of points,” again with the stern look.

The students all mumbled affirmations and shaking heads, contradictions but they were trying their best. She at least seemed to recognize this and pushed up her glasses carefully; they stopped, standing out the double doors that led into the Great Hall and the sounds of others talking and laughing were almost deafening by now. Still she managed to make herself be heard. “Now please line up according to your last name; I will call you for the Sorting.”

With that she went inside but the students all started buzzing about, mumbling to themselves and each other. Lily started fussing, pushing kids around, and James helped trying to get everyone into order. Sirius looked about and saw Peter get dragged into a spot right in front of James and behind a blond haired boy reading a book. Professor McGongall's voice called out to them and they stumbled to follow, pushing and fumbling as they walked into the Great Hall for the first time.

The hall was as grand as it's name implied; the enchanted ceiling showed a fake night sky, complete with stars and clouds. Hundreds of eyes watched them, second through seventh years all waiting to see what the little first years would do, where they would go. On the opposite side of the room was two things: the long table at which the teachers all sat, also watching and also waiting. A single stool sat, with a shabby old hat sitting upon it; the other first years all started to mutter among themselves, until Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and they immediately froze up, but Sirius already knew. The memories told him that one easily: the Sorting Hat, and it was time to hear it sing.

He was vaguely aware the song changed every year so his memory didn't give him any clues here either. Honestly he didn't really care much about that; the Sorting Hat's song was just a silly little thing, the hat telling the first years about itself, about the houses, about whatever it wanted to talk about. Maybe as a child he had been fascinated by this strange, fantastic thing telling him about the world he was about to enter but there was so many more things to think about and to deal with and ultimately it was just not important to him.

Soon enough the song was done and Professor McGonagall called up the first name, a mousy girl who stumbled to reach the other end of the hall and sat on the stool with all the stiffness of a tree. Thee hat went down on her head and seconds later it yelled out Hufflepuff, prompting a small applause and the girl's release to the black and yellow badgers. Sirius smiled a bit; there was definitely excitement to the Sorting itself and he was curious to see who would be where. He had some ideas for some of them but most of the other students, he had no idea yet. Five names in his came up and there was an undeniable silence for a second, followed by barely contained whispers. Sirius took a deep breath and head held high, he started towards the stool and hat.

He knew what they were whispering about. Hundreds of eyes watched him and hundred of mouths murmured all the same thing. Black, Black, _Black;_ Sirius of the Ancient Family of Black, Sirius heir to the Black Family. He knew what the purebloods expected, and he knew what everyone else who knew of his family expected. Every Black had been Slytherin for generations, or at least the ones that were allowed to be talked about; not Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw, not Hufflepuff. Slytherins since the beginning and as far as any of them were concerned, Slytherins until the end. Sirius wondered if there had been a timeline where he would have been one too, wanted to be one, then dashed that thought away before sitting upon the stool and he saw darkness as the hat was lowered onto his head.

 _'Let's see....oh...oh....'_ The voice of the Sorting Hat, ringing through his head; he stayed calm until it continued, _'You....I've Sorted you before haven't I?'_

 _'How did you know?'_ Sirius was curious.

_'I know many things, Sirius Black, and I see even more. I see the jumbled essence of your mind, memories that belong to you but not the you that sits here under my brim. I see the things you don't want me to see and don't want to acknowledge but they stand out to me still. I see your **intentions** and the questions you're not prepared to answer yet.'_

_'Then I assume you see what I want from you.'_ A chuckle followed; he was surprised to know a hat could laugh.

_'You want to break your family's tradition, again; you want me to Sort you in Gryffindor.'_

_'Exactly.'_

_'Your reasons are much better than last time; you wanted to get away from them last time, you wanted to be different, to prove you weren't like them. You wanted to be Sirius, not a member of the Black family. But now...now you want to save your friends and yourself; the memories....you plot to change the future by your own hands and actions. **How cunning of you**.'_

Sirius froze and frowned. _'Don't you dare...'_

_'No? Would it really be so bad? You said it yourself didn't you; the House doesn't make you a monster. And you could do so much in Slytherin, you could be truly great if only-'_

_'I refuse! I am a Gryffindor, I was before and I will be again!'_

_'...Fine, if you are sure. Cunning you are, but above all else...._

_' **You are brave to stand up to fate.** '_

“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat called out to all to hear and Sirius let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. It was removed from his head and he was aware of a sea of gasps, looks of awe and loud cheers from the table of the red and gold lions. His heart sped but he smiled brightly and jumping down he gave one more look to Remus and the others, seeing James grinning widely, and he went to take a seat. Students tried to crowd closer to him but he made sure them left him space; he needed enough for at least four people to sit beside him.

The Sorting went on and many events went as they had before; to her surprise Lily was placed in Gryffindor and Sirius could see Severus' devastated face from where he sat. Lily too looked dazed but she came to join Sirius and he gave a nod to Severus that he wasn't even sure the boy saw. Remus reached the stool upon his name being called and Sirius held his breath again, waiting, hoping, until finally the House was called out again: Gryffindor, safe and sound with Sirius. The boy grinned and welcomed Remus to his side, putting an arm around him and finding no resistance. Lily smiled sweetly as Sirius spoke, “Looks like you're stuck with us, Remus ol boy.”

“I suppose there are worse fates, though I can't think of many.” Sirius pretended to be hurt but Remus' smile made it hard to stay upset.

After him was a strange set of twins, if their identical last names were any indication because their appearance didn't especially match, that were put in Slytherin and Ravenclaw, causing a stir but neither seemed bothered.

The next name after them called was a girl's and for a moment Sirius looked at her, feeling like he knew her but it felt fuzzy there. Long silvery hair tied back in a dark blue ribbon and crimson eyes that caught his gaze; the professor called her Hakumei and she sat upon the stool, seeming to close her eyes right before the hat was placed upon her head. While they waited he tried to collect where he knew her but it felt like wading in water; there were snippets, a voice whispering to him, a hand trying to pull him somewhere. It was nowhere near as clear as what he remembered of James or Remus or Lily or Peter or even Severus; it was more akin to a side glance at something half lost than a vision of the future itself. But he knew her nevertheless and didn't feel surprised when the hat once more called out Gryffindor and she seemed to smile gently as she walked to sit at the table. Their eyes met directly and he didn't look away immediately, having to remind himself not to stare. He could have sworn he heard a giggle.

“Pettigrew, Peter!” The time had come for the missing Marauder to join the party. He immediately turned his attention towards the hat again as the pudgy boy from before made his way over. He was nervous, Sirius could make that much out easily; Peter shook and looked terrified as he was sat down and had the hat placed. And for what felt like an eternity the whole room waited; as time ticked by, Sirius thought to himself about things. Specifically what to do about Peter; the problems of the future seemed to stem from inherent things, not external so much. Peter was a coward, and he was a follower by nature not a leader; his strength in school seemed to come from the Marauders as a group not from his own abilities. The betrayal had been harsh and horrible, unforgivable and inexcusable, but hindsight was clear: there needed to be something done but what, he wasn't sure yet. This could be the hardest thing to change in the end but he had already committed himself to this, to fixing what went wrong and preventing the deaths and pain he had gone through before.

The hat was taking a long time he realized but only after people started to murmur about it. Peter sat still on the stool and Sirius looked to Lily and Remus who both shrugged, unsure what was going on. But it occurred to him that this was taking much longer than it was supposed to; even his own conversation with the hat, while it felt like a long time, had only been really about a minute of time. This was closer to five and he could see James itching to be up next so he could join the Gryffindors table. Even Professor McGongall looked a little concerned until finally the hat called out the House, Gryffindor, and Peter was released, looking far paler than he had before. He stumbled to the table and Sirius took his chance.

“Hey, come sit here!” he yelled, releasing Remus finally so he could stand and wave Peter over; the other boy froze with a look akin to a mouse looking at a basilisk but Sirius grinned and kept gesturing until finally Peter joined him.

He sat across from the trio, looking meek. “Um, okay...”

“That sure took some time,” Remus said smiling reassuringly, “But congrats on being a Gryffindor.”

“Oh um thanks,” Peter answered, blushing and bowing his head.

“Of course it would have been great no matter what House you got,” Sirius said and found himself the subject of Peter's stare again; he kept smiling the whole time though.

“Y-you really think so? Even if I was Slytherin?” There was something to his tone, almost pleading, and Sirius felt his heart go out to the scared boy.

“Of course; I mean I'm overjoyed to be Gryffindor, don't get me wrong, but Slytherin is nowhere as bad as everyone makes it out to be,” Sirius said then gestured to Lily, “I mean she wanted to be Slytherin.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “It wasn't meant to be though it seemed.”

“GRYFFINDOR!” In comparison to Peter, the hat took about a second to scream out James' placement and the boy ran over to the table, plopping down beside Peter and throwing an arm around the now terrified boy.

“Told you I'd be Gryffindor,” James boasted proudly and Lily giggled.

“I don't think anyone expected any less of you, James,” Sirius said trying not to snort in laughter.

James seemed pleased enough then turned to the boy under his arm. “So you're one of us now, eh? Name's James Potter, nice to meet you.”

“P-P-Peter P-Pettigrew,” Peter stuttered and tried to pull free to no avail.

“Remus Lupin.”

“Lily Evans.”

“And I'm the great Sirius Black.” James did snort and both Lily and Remus just shook their heads as Sirius grinned. He felt good, very good, so he decided to just have a little fun.

The rest of the Sorting went pretty much calmly; kids were put into each of the Houses and eventually it moved onto the last of their group. Severus walked with defiance in his stride and Sirius knew before the Sorting for the boy could even be underway. And he glanced at Lily, seeing her attempt at hiding her own concern but she was a child and it showed either way. The other boy knew what he wanted, both Gryffindors were aware of this, and even in the short time they had been together, mixed with the memories of all the years that were destined to come, Sirius knew all too well: Severus Snape was stubborn and the verdict would be the same as it was then and was now.

“SLYTHERIN!” The House name reverbated but likely no more in the hall than through Lily's heart. Sirius instinctively put a hand on hers and she looked at him surprised but smiled; Remus, Peter, they didn't seem to understand but Sirius had seen the two come into the compartment together and James had been there to hear how many years the two had been friends. The implications that maybe for the longest time they were the only true friend the other had.

Severus moved from the stool and seemed unperturbed, starting towards Slytherin table. And Sirius wasn't entirely sure why he did what he did but before he knew it he was standing again and yelling, “Sev! Oi mate, where do you think you're going?!”

The entire room went deathly silent and Severus stopped in his tracks, not turning yet. A prefect of the Gryffindor House moved over to Sirius, hissing in his ear, “What do you think you're doing?”

“My friend is going the wrong way; he should be sitting with us,” Sirius said giving the prefect an innocent look. Lily and James both stared wide eyed at him, Peter looking around as if deciding that maybe sitting with a strange madman was really not a great idea. Remus though just waited and watched, and Severus turned to finally look at them as well.

“He's a Slytherin.” The way the prefect said it reminded him a little of how Sirius' parents talked of Muggles.

“Hey Sev! Over here!” Sirius refused to talk to someone who would talk about another person like that; he waved and he could see Severus twitch in response, likely to the nickname he stole from Lily.

“Sit down,” the prefect warned, grabbing Sirius' arm, “or else.”

“No, let go of me!” Sirius yelled and tried to free himself though it wasn't terribly easy; of course he could transform but again, not a good idea.

“Sev!” Another voice joined his and he looked to see Lily standing as well, cupping her hands over her mouth, “Over here, Sev!”

“Oi Sev, your greasy butt over here!” James exclaimed, standing up on his seat now.

“Merlin's beard you guys,” Remus muttered before standing as well, “Severus! Your idiots want you!”

Peter whimpered and looked about, trying to make himself smaller. The prefect was getting redder and redder by the moment, trying to grab Lily then James then Remus but only having two hands he kept letting go of one of them only for the next to pop up and start yelling again. The other Gryffindors started to snicker and the Hufflepuffs actually started to laugh.

“Calm down you fools.” Severus sounded annoyed and he glared at each of them before sitting down beside Lily, “You're making a scene. And I don't believe I gave you two idiots especially the right to call me that.”

Lily squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck, causing his face to go bright red before he settled into it. It reminded Sirius a lot of a stray cat being tamed. The boys all sat down and the prefect, left speechless for a moment, puffed up once he recovered and turned to Sirius, “Professor McGonagall will have words for you, Black.”

“Cool, as long as it's after we eat; I'm starving.” Everyone was staring at them, at him, but Sirius didn't care. He looked to Peter who looked terrified but was starting to come back out, James who was grinning and poking at Severus, Severus himself who kept glaring at James as if trying to set him on fire with the power of his gaze, Lily who smiled and seemed delighted to still sit with her best friend. And Remus, who was looking at Sirius. The prefect walked off and Sirius rubbed his head in response to Remus' gaze, unsure what else to do. Severus was right, he was a fool and he did make a scene. The whole school knew who they were now. But seeing the others smiling and laughing, he really truly just didn't care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Okay don't expect this to happen often; I just started writing this and couldn't stop until it was done soooo here you go.
> 
> I'm soooo touched by all the love this has been giving so thank you so much to everyone who left reviews and kudos and everyone who bookmarked this. Oh my god I did not expect this to get so popular. I hope this didn't disappoint.
> 
> I'm mainly proud of the Sev scene and the conversation with the Sorting Hat; I feel they both came out exactly as I wanted and especially with the former, I wanted to have a dramatic event happen where Sev, the only Slytherin of this group, gets dragged back into the group. Peter was a Hatstall again and I'm hoping to have him eventually admit that the hat didn't know if it should put him in Slytherin or Gryffindor and talk more about that. A lot of this story I feel is going to involve dealing with Slytherin/Gryffindor thing more since it's the root ultimately of a lot of stuff.
> 
> Until then thoooough, remember: kudos are love, comments are appreciated, and true friends are good friends.
> 
> Bye-bi!~)


	4. What To Do With Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every action has a reaction and every bad behavior has a punishment. Also Peter asks and Sirius delivers. But everything ends as peaceful as possible.

“What a start to this year.” A voice rang through the Great Hall after everything had finally calmed down and Sirius turned to look. Headmaster Dumbledore stood behind his podium, the hat and stool gone suddenly; it seemed that during the madness the last students got safely Sorted and the headmaster's speech was then about to start. There was amusement in Dumbledore's voice, akin to a grandfather watching his grandchildren play, but Sirius couldn't help but feel like he was being watched behind those half moon spectacles.

The elderly wizard gestured grandly with his arms and his voice boomed to fill the room, though whether through sheer force of presence or by magic was difficult to tell. “Welcome, welcome, welcome, new and returning alike, to another glorious year at Hogwarts! I surely hope that as this year continues and through your schooling to come that you will all foster bonds of strength and courage. For while we can teach you much in the way of magic, we cannot teach you how to connect and care, to become great wizards not simply by the power of your magic but the essence of your character.”

That seemed a little too pointed but the looks that returned were ignored completely. Dumbledore continued. “As with every year we shall start with some announcements. Once more we will warn you that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits for students lest you wish to suffer a terrible and violent fate. Secondly we are fortunate to be allowed to be the new home of a young Whomping Willow tree; it's previous home is in danger of being encroached upon by a Muggle development and the Ministry has graciously allowed us to replant it here so as to keep this important and rare plant species safe.” Sirius noted Remus shift in his seat some but the boy choose not to question it. “Of course as it is a very aggressive and antisocial species, I will caution students not to approach it; the tree will attack you and Madam Pomfrey will not want to spend this whole year tending to youngsters who decide to play around with it.”

“I am definitely going to try to touch it, who's with me?” James whispered and Lily gave him a disapproving look.

“We are not dragging you to the infirmary when you break all your limbs,” she warned annoyed.

He huffed and crossed his arms. “Spoilsport.”

“Thirdly,” Dumbledore continued unfettered, “We are pleased to announce the appointment of our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; please join me in welcoming Professor Zerus Adalwulf.”

A quiet looking man with bright red hair stood, giving a small bow as the collected students and teachers applauded. Sirius joined, taking note of little things; the man's hair covered one eye and he didn't actually look at any of them. Sirius could have sworn he saw something catch the light from around his neck but the man had sat down again and it was far too far away to get a good glimpse of what it could be. Ultimately he decided it wasn't really worth worrying over either; there were more important things to think on, like eating some food.

“With all that out of the way, I suppose I should close out this speech so that you hungry children can eat. I will close with these words: rabbity, fibberish, catty, lanlan.” The room was silent; someone groaned and Peter looked to the others with a look akin to pure fear at what could possibly have crossed the headmaster's brain in that moment. But Dumbledore was smiling and he went to sit down, everything stilling for a while longer before Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and the feast finally appeared. And everyone dug in.

Sirius was just glad to be allowed to eat finally; they had had some snacks on the train of course but nothing compared to the delicious fare that was the Hogwarts feast. Plus there were so many different things to try; he grabbed some delicious smelling pumpkin bread and noted as he loaded up his plate with food the others doing so as well. Peter collected a massive pile, his fear gone and replaced easily with pure gluttony if the look in his eyes were any indication; James flicked a piece of potato at Severus who immediately retaliated with a piece of turkey. Lily grabbed both by the ear and started to tell them off, causing Sirius to silently chuckle to himself in amusement. Remus beside him by contrast seemed to have gathered a smaller amount than any of them and seeing this Sirius put his pumpkin bread on Remus' plate; the werewolf looked at him with a raised eyebrow but the boy just proceeded to grab another slice.

“I have enough food,” Remus said but notably did not get rid of the offending bread.

“Your plate looks like what a mouse would eat; don't you know we're all growing children and need plenty of food to grow up big and strong?”

“You sound like an adult more than a kid.” That made Sirius freeze up for a moment but he did his best to play it off, laugh some before throwing an arm around his new old friend's shoulders.

“More of an adult then the idiots throwing food at each other,” he responded and gestured to James and Severus who were still being scolded over their childishness.

Remus glanced over and Sirius saw a smile cross his face before the other boy started to chuckle some. “I do suppose that's true.”

“Sev started it,” James whined, finally getting free and rubbing his ear.

“Don't call me Sev,” Severus said, getting released and doing the same.

“Oh fine...Sevie...”

“Potter...”

“Snapedragon....”

Severus stared at the messy haired boy with a look that seemed equal parts confused, horrified and convinced the other boy was insane. He opened his mouth, then closed it, only to open it again and close again before shaking his head. “I should have never let you bully me into sitting with you...”

Lily frowned some and turned to look at Sirius. “We're going to get into trouble over this, you know that right?”

“Would you have preferred Severus go sit away from you?” Sirius asked.

“Well...no, but still...”

“They wouldn't really give detentions to us ickie widdle firsties right?” James said pretending to be innocent.

“They can and will,” said an older student sitting nearby; the collection of first years looked over and the kid chewed on what seemed to be a particularly tough chicken leg, “No one's ever interrupted the Sorting ceremony like that and no Slytherin has ever actually sat at Gryffindor table like this. I have no doubt that Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn will have words with the five of you.”

“Words does not specifically mean that they will say 'you have detention',” Sirius said eating a different slice of pumpkin bread. The one he had grabbed after giving Remus his first was already devoured.

“If we get detention on our very first day of school, what does that bode for the rest of the year?” Remus asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“That it's gonna be a very good year indeed,” James offered with a grin followed by a yelp as Lily tugged his ear again.

“Why did I sit with you maniacs?” Peter muttered under his breath, looking at them from over his food.

“Cuz you could see we're the coolest kids around,” Sirius answered. He of course knew that it was because of him; he was the one who called Peter over, he was the one with the memories that drove him to want to change the way this year went as well as the years to come. He still didn't know what to do about Peter, how to prevent the future betrayal, but he figured as with the case of the others, he needed to start with befriending the boy.

“Are you?” Peter asked staring at him and Sirius nodded as confidently as he could.

“Of course we are,” James supported and again grabbed hold of Peter, holding him close, “Just watch, Peter, we'll be running this school before you know it.”

“Is that right, Mr. Potter?” Sirius did not immediately turn around; the look on James' face, staring like a deer in headlights over his shoulder, made it all too clear what he would find when he did and Peter made a noise very much related to that a mouse. Sirius took a deep breath, counted to ten, and turned his head with his most confident smile.

It did not survive the gaze of Professor McGonagall and he was strongly reminded of being a child. Though part of him was certain that even as an adult, being looked at like she was looking at them would have cowed him even after Azkaban. Possibly more honestly. It wasn't so much that she seemed angry or anything; there was a distinct sense of a disappointed authority figure but there was no actual anger. The prefects started to gather the other first years and Peter managed to scurry away for the moment; James tried to stand but the professor cleared her throat and he immediately sat back down. Severus buried his face in his hands and Remus grabbed onto Sirius' sleeve.

“Hello Professor McGonagall,” the four Gryffindors said in unplanned and yet somehow entirely harmonized unison; the Slytherin mumbled something into his hands that might have been something similar but it was sort of hard to tell.

She gestured and they all stood up, looking to one another; Sirius had the good sense to feel bad for dragging them along and as she led them out of the hall, and away from where all their fellows were going, damned they would need to find out how to get into their common rooms later, he turned to look at the other four members of his condemned party.

James did his best to seem unaffected, even having his hands in his pockets as they walked. Lily and Severus were once again hand in hand, and Sirius realized only then that Remus had not left his side yet. The werewolf was looking about at the walls and even he found himself half fascinated by the stone, the flames on the torches, the way the shadows danced about, anything than what was going through his mind. The memories were no use; there was nothing about getting detention on his first day of school but there was so little to tell the truth touching on the more mundane parts of school. Though how detentions counted among that he wasn't too sure.

It felt like they walked for a hundred years, probably was only ten or twenty minutes though, and they were led into a small room where already a large warm fire was burning. There was little question where they were and despite the heat of the fire they moved closer to each other by instinct as she moved to sit behind the desk in the room; she affixed them with a gaze and Sirius found himself pushed to the front of the grouping, fumbling some before taking a deep breath. This was his fault, he got them into this, he was the one who started it; he supposed it only made sense that he be the one who took the brunt of whatever was to come.

He tried to speak but his body wouldn't respond; his mind rolled with all sorts of excuses but ultimately the end result was just that he stood there, looking back at her, locked in the most awkward staring contest in the history of the world, and was left with way too much relief when she deigned to speak first.

“Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, Miss Evans, Mr. Snape,” she started and Sirius bit back the comment that bubbled up about what a mouthful that was, “You of course know why you are here instead of with the rest of the first years of your Houses.”

It didn't escape his notice how she emphasized the plural of House and he nodded; behind him came sounds of affirmatives and Professor McGonagall sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose slowly. “Never in my years here at Hogwarts have we have such a disruption occur. Not only did you show a blatant disregard for tradition and ceremony by having a new student sit not with their appropriate House, never mind a Slytherin at Gryffindor table, but you disrespected the Sorting Ceremony when there were still more students to Sort while you caused your little commotion.”

“We didn't want our friend to-” Lily spoke but as the professor gave her a look the girl immediately trailed off and wilted some, to Severus' displeasure.

Sirius saw this and frowned, feeling guilty for once. He felt bad for what he had done though he still thought deep down it had been right. But if it hurt them... He turned back to Professor McGonagall, gathering all the courage his small body contained. “Professor, if anyone is going to be punished, it should be me; I'm the one who started it. I knew Lily and Severus were friends before Hogwarts and I didn't want the Sorting to separate them; please don't punish everyone else for what was my doing.”

“I mean we all took part,” James said and Sirius didn't know when the messy haired boy had moved but he was standing to his left, still with his hands deep in his pockets, “We all called out for Sev to join us.”

“You're just the idiot who started it, Sirius,” Remus added, having taken up Sirius' right.

“I didn't need to listen to any of you fools but I did,” Severus continued and frowned some, “And I won't have you acting like you're some kind of matryr on my behalf, Sirius; it's disturbing. We're all responsible for our own actions, you didn't force any of us.”

Part of him was touched by the fact that in the moment they all were pretty much taking responsibility for the situation even with Sirius trying to take the blame for himself. Another wondered why they seemed to want to when he was trying to give them an out and hadn't they only known him for a few hours? He supposed childhood friendships could just be like that sometimes but he knew why he was doing it like this; he remembered them as more than just the kids he'd met that day, and he remembered what was to come. He cared because to him James, Lily and Remus were the best friends he was destined for, and he was trying to correct mistakes with Severus. But that didn't answer why they seemed to care too.

Professor McGonagall just watched them for a time silently as the kids talked and all started to step up, her expression keeping as unaffected as possible. He reminded himself that the important thing wasn't what the others did or said, whether they cared or not; they had caused trouble and they needed to be punished for that, whether or not he really wanted to or believed they should be. After letting them talk for a time she cleared her throat and they were returned to being mere first years, looking at one of the strictest and scariest teachers in the whole of Hogwarts.

“As admirable as your loyalty is, especially as a Gryffindor first year, it doesn't change a thing. You five caused a disturbance and disrespected tradition; for that you need to be punished. Now I cannot speak to young Mr. Snape's punishment, as I am not his Head of House-”

“I apologize for being late, Minerva!” Somehow the voice did not make him feel anywhere near better. The visceral reaction in the back of his mind was to want to groan and shudder. Horace Slughorn was maybe not the worst teacher in the school by far, and sure Sirius couldn't remember much of him either, but he got the intense sense that he did not like this man very much, and it had nothing to do with him being Head of Slytherin.

The Potions Master came into the room and made his way towards Professor McGonagall's desk, looking over the collection of five students. Eyeing each of them Sirius did his best not to bristle, just keeping his eyes primarily on his own Head of House; if he didn't know better he would have said that the woman looked exasperated by her colleague's arrival.

“It is fine, Horace,” she said slowly, seeming to be measuring each word; she looked from the five of them to the older gentleman, “We were just about to discuss punishments for their actions.”

“Yes yes,” he said nodding his head, “Their behavior needs to be dealt with properly. Admittedly they are young and it is the first day so might as well go easy on them.”

“Well of course; I didn't plan on making them scrub the entire first floor or anything of the like,” Professor McGonagall said like that much was obvious.

Slughorn nodded and crossed his arms. “Of course, of course. Well then, what do you recommend?”

“I was planning on leaving Mr. Snape's punishment to your discretion,” she told him looking to the other professor, “As for my students, Messrs Black, Potter and Lupin as well as Miss Evans will be writing me essays on the tradition of the Sorting Ceremony as they do not seem to understand the importance of it. That seems like a fair enough punishment for a first and hopefully final offense.”

Her tone was no nonsense and Sirius got the sense she could tell already this was not going to be the last time she saw them. He didn't care though, glad it wasn't anything too cruel; she could have threatened to send a letter home to their parents which, while he didn't much care about when it came to Walburga and Orion, he didn't really want to get the others scolded by their parents about this.

Slughorn nodded sagely, or as close to it as he got, and spoke. “Excellent idea, Minerva. I think I'll have Mr. Snape do the same so that he too can learn the importance of Hogwarts traditions and respecting them.”

The five looked to each other but luckily they all kept their mouths shut for the moment. It seemed with that the situation was closed, for now, though he didn't doubt that this was really only the start. Despite some hesitations Severus went with Slughorn to the Slytherin common room and after a few more words about not causing trouble while at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall led the four remaining Gryffindors up to the tower where their common room and dorms were. None of them spoke, they simply walked and Sirius did his best not to sigh in relief in case it got their punishment made worse. Still he knew that they ultimately got off easy for the most part; an essay was nothing and he figured it was mainly because it was the first night, they were new students and they were just trying to sit with their friend. Eleven year olds doing stupid, childish things couldn't be that surprising and while he did find it strange how no one else had ever tried anything like that before, he didn't think it was anywhere near a big deal.

He barely paid attention when she explained about the Fat Lady but not because he was thinking about that day. Seeing the portrait hit him like a ton of bricks and he suddenly felt ill and unsteady, a deep anger mixed almost indistinguishably with a strong sorrow. His body wanted to change, yearned to go from human to canine, and his hands itched in response. But he resisted, he tried to draw the line; the feelings came from the memories, the self that had moved through time to come to this year again, and it stemmed from an event that he as he was now had no hand in. He was Sirius Black, aged eleven, and that was the future that he was trying to prevent, the one here he saw the portrait ripped to shreds because of his own foolish temper and the pain that festered from twelve years of being trapped in depression and darkness.

Someone grabbed his hand and someone else put an arm around him. James' voice spoke softly into his ear, asking if he was okay, and he realized that it was Remus holding his hand and Lily holding him. All three looked concerned and there was something definitely touching about that but he resisted and bit his tongue; they didn't need to know the truth. Even Professor McGonagall looked concerned some but Sirius gave a grin to try to reassure them all; she was unconvinced but luckily let it be. They went inside but as they passed through he whispered to the Fat Lady, “I'm sorry...”

Gryffindor Common Room was warm but empty; the first night back but everyone was exhausted and so everyone else had gone to bed. The professor stopped for a moment then turned to them. “Off to bed with you four then; I expect the essays no later than the end of the first week of school and they should be at least a full parchment. Do not copy off each other, understood?”

“Understood, Professor McGonagall,” all four said with varying levels of contrite to their voices; she sighed some, pushed up her glasses and dismissed them, leaving the common room and the four to their own thoughts.

“Come on Sirius,” Remus said, squeezing Sirius' hand lightly, “We are all tired, we should get to bed.”

The boy nodded, honestly looking forward to getting some rest. He still remembered that morning all too well, the dream that was definitely not a dream, and the panic. He wanted to rest, he wanted to recover from the pain that filled him seeing the Fat Lady, the guilt of getting the others into trouble, all the excitement of the day and the trauma of having to deal with memories of the future with the present day.

“Before you do,” Lily piped up and Sirius turned to look at her, seeing her smile lightly; she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, “I just wanted to say thanks.”

“Thanks?” James asked confused.

“For today, for befriending Severus and me, for trying to help,” she said, “When we were growing up we were the only kids with magic in our neighborhood; ever since I discovered my powers, he was the only person I could talk about this kind of thing with, the only one who understood and could tell me things. My parents were supportive but I...honestly I was scared what coming to Hogwarts might end up being like, if I'd be able to make friends because I'm from a non-magical family and different. So having you be nice to us and welcome us and even try to make sure we could still sit together like that, I'm really thankful.”

Sirius blushed some, feeling embarrassed by the gratitude. Beside him Remus was smiling, not saying a word, and to the other side James was looking at Lily with the biggest grin. It seemed like a good sign to him but in the moment all that really mattered was that they had helped and that was good.

“I'm the one who should be thanking you,” Sirius said smiling and watching as she looked at him wide eyed, “If you and Sev hadn't come and sat with me then my train ride would have been boring and I probably wouldn't have met you guys or James so quickly. So thanks for sitting and talking with me and putting up with my antics.”

“But-” she started but Remus cleared his throat and they all turned to him. “We should probably put off this until daylight; right now it's late and I'd rather we not get into more trouble being up past curfew.”

He was right and they knew it. Lily nodded and moving past the boys she went up to the girls dorm without another word; the trio looked at one another and James seemed to still be smiling before speaking, “Last one to bed is a Blast Ended Newt!”

“You're on!” Sirius answered and the boys started up the stairs. He felt a little heavy but didn't think too much on it until they reached the dorms, finding three empty canopy beds, each with their respective luggage in front of them. Peter sat on his bed and it occurred to him that the boy was waiting for them, though for what he couldn't guess. He heard light panting and turning he realized: Remus had never let go of his hand. The werewolf had been dragged up the stairs unceremoniously, still holding tight to the hyperactive dog's hand and now was trying to catch his breath. Sirius froze while James cheered, having managed to get to the bed first; again he felt guilt and he opened his mouth to say something, apologize or some such, but Remus raised an hand to stop him.

“I am fine,” he said between breaths, “Do not apologize.”

He finally let go of Sirius' hand at that point and Peter hugged a pillow to his chest, furrowing his brow. “So what happened? Are you getting expelled?”

“Now why would we be expelled? All we did was yell a little,” James said plopping down onto the bed where his luggage was and smirked, closing his eyes.

“And spit in the face of tradition by having a Slytherin sit with us Gryffindors,” Remus said and took over his own bed, sighing some, “God this is soft...”

Sirius went to his own, sitting down; he looked over at Peter. “We're okay; Professor McGonagall is making us write her essays about the Sorting Ceremony. She's going easy on us because we're kids and who expels an eleven year old?”

“I always heard she's like the most strict teacher in the entire school,” James said, “My dad told me she doesn't take any nonsense and will even take points from her own House; can you imagine?”

Peter squeezed the pillow. “I don't want to be on her bad side...”

“She's not that bad,” Sirius said and grabbing his night clothes from his trunk he started to get changed; the sound of shuffling, some hmphs and huffs, told him he was not the only one and it only took a few minutes until everyone was ready for bed.

The bed was better than the one he had at home and he wasn't too sure why that was. It wasn't like he slept on a stone slab but somehow he felt more at peace once he slipped under the covers, less like he hated the idea of waking up. He heard James and Remus and even Peter talk a little more and it put him at peace; having the three there made him feel calm and he closed his eyes for a moment.

“Hey,” said a voice he recognized as Peter, “Black, hey.”

“Call me Sirius, everyone who's anyone does.” He didn't open his eyes.

“Um...why did you...”

Sirius didn't need him to finish; he could guess. And he thought of Remus asking the similar question. So he gave a similar answer. “Because I wanted to befriend you.”

It wasn't quite the same but it seemed to still cause a reaction; there was a thud and he finally choose to look over to see that Peter was laying on the ground, looking very stunned. There was a chuckle and he found James trying not to burst into laughter late at night over the fact that the larger boy had fallen out of bed in what seemed to be shock. Remus was sitting in his own bed but there was a definite sense of restraint from him and he seemed to be shaking slightly.

“Wh-what?” Peter said still on the ground.

“You need to get up; the floor can't be comfortable,” Sirius said smirking at him from over the edge of the bed; he offered a hand and Peter looked suspicious of it at first but eventually he reached up and took hold, letting the other boy help him back up to his feet.

Peter fidgetted, looking awkward. His hand was a little sweaty but Sirius resisted the urge to pull away quickly, letting the other boy choose when to let go. Which turned out to be five seconds too long but still; Peter went back to his bed and didn't speak immediately. That was fine by Sirius of course and after being released he settled back into bed, making sure not to make a show of wiping his hand off.

He yawned. “Good night, idiots.”

“Only idiot here is you, Black,” James called out.

“Shut up, Potter!”

“Shut up, both of you; some of us want to get some sleep,” Remus scolded; it was the first of many, Sirius was sure of this.

“...am I an idiot too?” Peter's voice asked weakly.

“Well yeah,” Sirius said and grinned, “You're one of us now after all.”

For the first time Sirius got to see Peter smile and he had to admit, it wasn't entirely bad actually. He closed his eyes once more and he listened, to the silence, the occasional hoot of an owl in the distance, the rustling of wind through something outside. And the sound of his best friends all around him, yet as he started to drift away a sense of something missing lingered, following into the dreams that cocooned the displaced soul.

But that too could wait until morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This ends up feeling a lot like chapter three got torn in two but that's not bad I think.
> 
> I'd like to thank everyone who read and commented; I am so super touched everytime I got a notification about kudos and bookmarks and comments. 
> 
> I don't like Slughorn, does that show? I on the other hand adore Professor Minerva McGonagall; I figured the group wouldn't get into too much trouble but still needed a punishment. After checking up on Hogwarts disciplinary actions, I decided an essay wouldn't be too bad for the crime. 
> 
> Outside of that I wanted to make sure there was a little scene with Peter and I got that; the future Marauders are coming together well I think though I think you all can tell that we're not going to be seeing just the classic "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs" set up. And the Fat Lady scene basically came out of left field for me too but I felt like it was important because that is such a thing in Prisoner of Azkaban and I feel like Sirius' feelings were super strong in that book/movie; this will likely not be the last time stuff from it specifically comes up as emotional reactions or memories Sirius has. Next chapter I'm thinking of maybe starting in on a plot that will be running through this as well; only thing I'll say is that it involves some Hogwarts Mystery-esque stuff but is not dealing with the Cursed Vaults themselves. Like at all. The plot is actually very old but I've never really gotten a chance to use it; I figure this might be a good time to do so. But the basis will still be on Sirius, his relationships, his actions and what they end up causing.
> 
> For now though remember: kudos are love, comments are appreciated, and every ratboy has a heart deep down so try to treat them better than you might remember them treating you.
> 
> Bye-bi!~)


	5. Sleepless Nights and Potion Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long night the kids who'd be the Marauders and their friends have their first class of their school careers. But touched by worry and uncertainty, new faces are dragged into their problems in hope of an answer that doesn't end with one of them falling into dangerous hands.

Sirius half expected when he woke up that morning for the things to restart again or to never wake again; the questions of what was going on far outnumbered the answers and the boy had no idea of what each moment could bring outside of the things the memories showed him. But morning came and James was yelling at him to get up and he woke in the same four poster bed he had gone to sleep in, surrounded by the varying levels of dressed that was his roommates. Peter actually looked to be wrestling with his shirt, trapped in it's cloth confines and jumping about like a fool; Remus watched this with a raised eyebrow, pulling on his cloak and after done he went to help the helpless. James was sitting on the edge of Sirius' bed, watching this with a laugh, and seeing that the last of them was awake, the other boys who shared their dorm had apparently all left already for the day, he grinned.

“Mornin' sleepyhead, you're gonna miss out on breakfast if you don't hurry,” James said and got up, grabbing his own cloak to pull on.

“You were sleeping pretty deeply; I was worried you might have died in your sleep,” Remus said though it sounded from his tone like mostly a joke; still for Sirius his heart stopped for a moment and he remembered a mad face laughing as he was shot at.

He shook his head and the memories away before getting himself out of bed. The sky outside their window was clear and it looked to be a beautiful day at Hogwarts, his first true day at the school in this life; he couldn't help but smile then stretched. “Alright alright, I better get ready then; I'm surprised you idiots haven't already gone down.”

“Peter couldn't get his clothes on,” James said gesturing to where Peter, finally released from his imprisonment, had managed to get clothed and was thanking Remus for the assist; maybe it was just Sirius but there was a notable paleness to the werewolf this morning but he kept that to himself.

“We figured we'd wake you first,” Remus ammended, “If you hurry maybe we can all go together but I for one am hungry so...”

“Got it, hurry up then!” Sirius rushed out of the room to quickly shower. As he did so he thought: the day before had been quite exciting, waking up in the past and going on the Hogwarts Express for the first time again, meeting James and Lily and Severus and Remus and Peter, getting Sorted, getting in trouble. He was reminded of the Hat's attempt to convince him to go Slytherin and shuddered some, though it could have been the cold water; either way he tried to shove that particular memory to the back of his mind and not think about it again. Along with that weird sensation he got seeing the Fat Lady last night; it had been overwhelming and he did his best not to let it crawl up again. Some of the memories of the future were blurry, others clear, but none of them had affected him so violently and emotionally as that. It was like a tidal wave of anger and pain, the frustrations of a man driven mad by years of confinement and hatred who had lost everything only to cling to the one remaining light he could find. But he never meant to hurt the Fat Lady, he had just been upset by everything and he just wanted to...what? He didn't know; everything there was too jumbled up, nothing too coherent or sensible.

His thoughts too felt unfocused for the most part and even as he left the showers and got dressed, his mind reeled with the residual of weird thoughts and knowledge. The other boys were not in the dorm when he walked in, making him think that maybe he took too long and they left already, but he found them again in the common room, talking about classes. It occurred to him in that moment that they would be given their first year schedules, full of all the classes they were required to take as new students; the very idea of first year Potions made him want to shudder but then he thought about Transfiguration and he was reminded of his special power. He flexed his fingers, thinking about the sensation of changing form; he hadn't since that moment in his house when he tried hiding from his mother but he could remember the feeling of it clearly. And he wondered if he should talk to Professor McGonagall about it for a moment; being an Animagus was one thing, having put the effort and time into it, but this was likely beyond a simple odd occurrence. He died, went back in time and found that he retained the ability to transform that he was not supposed to have yet; he had not made the potion or done the ritual, he should not logically be able to do it yet. But he could and it felt like the kind of thing to investigate maybe, find out more about, and who better than their teacher who was an Animagus to be able to ask some weird questions.

“Oi Sirius, what are you doing? We gotta get going because Peter eats Remus or something!” No, Sirius thought to himself; he couldn't ask the teachers about this, he couldn't talk to anyone. The time travel, the memories, especially the power, this had to stay his secret whether or not he really wanted it to be; eleven he may be but there was too much trouble to be had if it came out, from people wanting to examine him, from people wanting to use him. From people not believing him.

The others were waiting and staring at him; Sirius forced himself not to think on it more for now. He grinned back at them and walked over, wanting to get some food in him before heading off for the first classes of his first year.

The Great Hall was, of course, full of kids and noise and the four of them had a time of finding a spot where they all could sit together without having to push other kids out of the way. Sirius took note of Lily sitting by herself at the Gryffindor table, staring over towards the Slytherin table, and he wondered why she was alone. After the night before it seemed only reasonable that it was expected that Severus sit with her but the dark haired boy was nowhere to be seen. A quick look around made that much clear; with a small frown he and the boys approached and luckily he didn't have to be the one to broach the question.

“Where's Severus?” James asked, plopping himself down beside the redhead, tilting his head and looking towards the Serpents table as well, “With the rest of the slithery snakeys?”

“No,” she answered the concern barely controlled in her voice, “He hasn't come down yet; I've been watching and waiting. I thought that maybe...”

“He probably overslept,” Sirius tried to reassure and she turned to look at him; sitting across from her and James he pulled Remus and Peter down on either side of him and shrugged, “I heard their common room is in the dungeons; probably doesn't want to leave his warm blankets in favor of their cold, cold floors.”

“He'll be along soon I'm sure,” Remus added, smiling gently at Lily; she sighed and poked at a rather abused looking muffin; Sirius suspected she had grabbed it originally to eat but had proceeded instead to prod and stab the poor thing until it was mainly mush and sadness.

“I hope so,” she said furrowing her brow, “It's just...”

“Just?”

“The girls in my dorm room, they were talking,” she muttered half inaudibly but they understood anyway; her worry was etched in her face even before she explained, “People think it's weird, what we did last night, which I knew and expected of course but...they sort of...”

“If you say they gave you a hard time then we'll have words,” Sirius said and James gave him a shocked look.

“You're gonna fight girls?!”

“Only if they make me have to.”

“No, no, not really at least; I mean they questioned me a lot, and they didn't make it seem like it was supposed to be normal what we did, especially since Sev is a Slytherin. If not for Haku, I don't think I would have gotten any sleep last night.”

“Haku?” Sirius asked raising an eyebrow.

“At least you got sleep.” The ever annoyed voice of Severus Snape rang from behind Sirius' side and he turned to look; the boy had bags under his eyes and somehow an expression that was even darker than normal. But he was unharmed and as Lily stood up he held up a hand. “I'm fine, Lily.”

“You make it sound like you didn't sleep, gloomy gus,” Sirius commented and the Slytherin looked at him.

“That's because I didn't really; when Slughorn brought me to the common room a bunch of the other students were up and waiting. He didn't even try to stop them as they berated me about 'House loyalty' and 'associating with Gryffindors'. As if I needed their lectures.” The boy clicked his tongue, giving a sense he was more annoyed by the audacity of their complaints than anything else. “By the time I finally got away and to bed the sun was almost up anyway.”

“Are you going to be able to make it through the classes today?” Remus asked concerned.

“I'll be fine; it won't be the first time I went without sleep.” There was something wrong in the way he said it but no one asked a followup; Lily just looked sad for a moment before huffing and throwing the muffin at his head.

“You kept me waiting, Severus Snape!”

He frowned and barely managed not to get hit in the face with the damaged goods. He looked at the other students who were doing a terrible job of pretending not to notice them, and then sighed. “I didn't mean to worry you, Lily.”

“Well then sit down so we can all eat breakfast,” James said and grabbed a non-battered muffin to start chowing down, “We're all starving and I'm sure you are too.”

“I...need to go sit at Slytherin actually,” Severus said hesitantly, “The schedule and all.”

Sirius could argue against that; the schedules would likely be handed out no matter where the students were sitting, even if not at their own tables. But he bit his tongue and as Peter started to argue he put his hand over the other boy's mouth and gave his most understanding smile. “Got it, we'll see you after breakfast then. Try not to pig out.”

“We can at least walk to class together, right?” Lily asked looking sheepish and the way Severus looked at her was heartbreaking; Sirius made a mental note to add making sure the boy sat with them more often to his list of things to do, he had been working on it since the incident at his house, but for now it was maybe best not to push.

The Slytherin nodded and without another word walked over to where his House sat; Sirius couldn't help but watch and saw the way a certain older student moved to put his arm around Severus to bring him to sit with them. He recognized him, as well as the pretty girl who sat beside him and hung onto the older boy's arm; a saving grace he supposed, Bellatrix had already graduated from Hogwarts so he didn't have to see her face, and unfortunately the same could be said for Andromeda who was likely the only one he didn't have bad memories of. But that still left the last of his older female cousins, Narcissa, and her future husband Lucius Malfoy. Seeing the latter touching Severus, and having ideas of what the much older boy was probably doing, the Black heir bristled. Yeah, he definitely needed to make sure Severus stayed around them as much as possible. The words Dark Arts floated through his memory and he only didn't continue to think on that by James flicking his forehead.

“Ow!” he yelped and glared at the other boy.

“You're glaring, Sirius,” James answered, “I figured I'd distract you.”

“So....you flicked him,” Remus said to which James nodded; he sighed and turned to Sirius, “I'm sure everything will be fine. For now we should eat and wait for our schedules.”

Peter, already digging into a pile of various breakfast foods, made a noise that was likely an agreement but it was hard to tell. Honestly looking at him Sirius couldn't help but chuckle because the other boy looked a little like a chipmunk with all the food in his mouth. Lily giggled weakly and Sirius decided that if she was able to laugh then things probably would be okay, though he wasn't about to give up that easily. He did not trust Lucius.

The rest of breakfast went without hitch. Food was eaten, conversation was had, and Sirius mostly listened. James seemed happy to delight Lily with everything he knew of Hogwarts, the various classes they might have and more than a few tall tales; Remus scolded him when he started to try to convince her that he was going to be captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team by end of year despite first years not being allowed to even join yet. James whined when called out on that and Lily's temperament seemed to brighten further. Peter even managed to add some comments and thoughts of his own, though it didn't escape Sirius' notice how the boy was still somewhat hesitant to really share too much with them; he struck him as the timid type, an oddity for a Gryffindor, but Sirius decided to believe that it was more a case of hidden courage rather than anything else.

By the time the schedules were handed out, he felt like the five of them at the Gryffindor table had managed to at least get closer; as the others poured over theirs, gushing over this or that and exclaiming about shared classes, he glanced across the Great Hall towards Slytherin table, and at Severus. Lucius had not let the boy go and Sirius couldn't help but worry; it was only as the other House got their schedules as well did they seem to leave him alone and Severus even glanced over at them, though it lasted only long enough for him and Sirius to see each other and immediately turn away from one another. It was ridiculous but Sirius returned his attention to his own schedule, unsurprised to find the basics: Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, DADA, History of Magic. There was a few joint classes with the other House's first years, and a smirk crossed his lips to see their first class of the day, set to start in about an hour. That certainly would work in his favor.

“Hey we all have the same schedule,” Peter said, looking at Sirius' schedule.

“Well yeah, we're eleven and it's our first year; they can't trust us to make decisions for ourselves.”

“I wonder if the other Houses have the same schedules too,” Lily voiced aloud to which Remus shook his head.

“Unlikely; I think there's obvious similarities, but there are four houses with roughly 20 first years each. That leaves the class sizes for first years alone to be 80 for a singular teacher if we all take classes at the same time with each other. No, more likely that all of us first years have the same classes generally but in different periods, save for the doubles classes,” the boy explained and looked over Sirius' schedule as well then his own and Peter's, “Which our first one seems to be Double Potions with Slytherin house.”

Lily looked happy with that development, smiling. James appeared to pick up on what made her so happy about that, and what Sirius was smirking about as well, and he grinned. “Cool, we'll be able to steal back that slithery serpent Severus then.”

“What if he prefers to be with the rest of his House?” Peter asked frowning, “I mean he is a Slytherin...”

“We have a secret weapon,” James assured him and put an arm around Lily, “His best friend as our hostage. And if he ever wants to see her again then he will join us. He will.”

“That sounds dangerously like a threat,” Sirius commented to which the messy haired boy's grin just grew. Sirius had a bad feeling but at the same time he couldn't help but laugh. Because he couldn't exactly say he wouldn't try to pull the same sort of trick if it came down to it.

It was fascinating how, despite it still being summer, the dungeons succeeded in being more akin to the ends of fall in terms of temperature. Peter sneezed and sniffled as he was dragged into the classroom they would be having their potions classes in for the foreseeable future; tables were set up and other students seemed to have already gotten there before they had even arrived. Among which was Severus who was sitting by himself; it seemed that despite the way he had been at the Slytherin table before, the rest of his first year comrades seemed to prefer to leave him be. Perfect for their plans really.

Lily sat down immediately beside him, causing Severus to look up with a startled look. “Hi Sev, is this seat taken?”

As she distracted him Sirius pounced, taking over his other side, tapping the boy's shoulder and making him turn with a furrowed brow. “How about this one?”

“Excuse us,” James said and he took the other side of the table along with Remus and Peter.

The Slytherin looked at each other, staring before frowning deeply. “I am fairly certain we're not allowed to be in groups of six.”

“That's your concern?” Sirius asked laughing a bit.

“If the teacher has a problem with it then we'll just break up,” Remus said, making James give him a pretend upset look.

“I didn't even know we were dating, Remus! How could you not tell me? What about the children?!” With that he grabbed hold of Peter who as if sensing where that was going had tried to escape to no luck; he was pulled close and James hugged him tight.

James then looked at Sirius but the boy put up his hand. “I am not your child so stop looking at me like that.”

Severus gave them a stern look but no one seemed particularly concerned and Lily again giggled. She bumped his shoulder gently with her own. “Come on Sev, isn't it more fun this way, with lots of friends together?”

“I don't know, are they friends of ours?” he grumbled only to get a stern look from Lily.

“Of course they are, don't be silly.”

He looked unconvinced but notably turned his head away without answering. To Sirius it looked like he had no answer to this and was trying to avoid having to try. He chuckled some and shook his head before hearing the door to the room open and in walked Slughorn.

The professor looked about as jolly as he did the night before and as he made his way to the front of the room, he turned and smiled at them. “Well well, welcome to your first Potions class of your life; in the days to come and indeed the years I will teach you various methods used in brewing potions and hopefully will find among you those who truly excel at this art. Through the years I have taught all sorts of impressive individuals who have gone one to do amazing things, and I have no doubt that you too shall prove to be capable of amazing things as well if given time and chance.”

Slughorn likes to collect the talented and the well-connected, whispered the memories. His skin crawled and he tried not to not focus on that, instead looking to his tablemates. None seemed to be particularly bothered though Severus was frowning and seemed to be doodling in what looked to be his textbook. James yawned, still holding onto a squirming Peter, and Lily was watching Slughorn with all the intense attention of one who loved to learn new things. Remus though was looking to Sirius and as their eyes met he gestured with his head at Slughorn, who was now extolling the virtues of potions making with some impressive vigor, and shrugged. Sirius could give the old teacher that at least; he seemed to care about what he was teaching.

He shrugged in return and class went on; as it was their first, the man mostly talked about what he expected, what they would be doing for the first week, working on some simple tinctures and developing a feel for what to do before getting into the real stuff. As suspected, the six of them were told to split in two to allow for a better group dynamic, and with much complaining from James who was “upset his children and husband were being taken from him”, Sirius broke off with Remus and Peter to make a second group, leaving James with an amused Lily and Severus who was slowly shaking his head. Sirius' new group took up residence nearby, allowing for plenty of pretend pining, and as James reached out to them he grabbed the boy's hand, causing the class to break into snickers and giggles. Even Slughorn seemed mildly amused and Sirius smiled before letting go of James. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a semi-familiar face: the girl from the Sorting ceremony, sitting with the Slytherin half of the twins from the same. He looked at her and she smiled before being pulled away by her own tablemate who whispered something to her. Sirius hadn't noticed before but the boy had two different colored eyes, one blue and one green; it was eye catching but he shook his head and returned his attention to the others.

“Now,” Slughorn started to finally wind down as the class ended, “Your homework for tonight is to study your copies of Magical Drafts and Potions, starting with the entries on basic etiquette and the various terms for handling ingredients; we will have a quiz on that next class. Until then go forth and be the best yous you can be!”

“Slughorn is a bit nutty isn't he?” James asked as they gathered their books; in the end the separation had only lasted about an hour and he had recovered quickly after Sirius held his hand.

The six reformed into one and Severus looked a bit jittery, looking to his fellow Slytherins. Lily pulled out her schedule and turned to him. “Severus, could I see your schedule?”

“Sure, Lily.” There was no resistance from the boy, despite his apprehension of other things, and handing it to her she compared. A frown crossed her lips and she spoke, “Aw our next class is not the same...”

“Well again we already guessed as much,” Remus said trying to reassure her though it still bothered her obviously.

James put his hands in his pocket and clicked his tongue. “Shame it is but what can we do?”

She looked at her best friend again. “Will you-”

“I'll be fine, Lily,” Severus answered a little too clipped, “I'm capable of taking care of myself, I don't need babysitting.”

“Sev, Sev, Sev, of course you're not a baby,” James spoke and put an arm around him, “You're more like our grumpy teenage son.”

Severus bristled at that and opened his mouth to say something but after a second of thought simply sighed and closed it again with another shake of his head. Whether it was because he was exhausted from getting no sleep or because arguing with James seemed like it took too much energy anyway was unclear. Either way Sirius understood and no one pushed him on it.

“The next class will be starting soon,” said an unfamiliar voice and Sirius turned to see the silver haired girl and the boy with the mismatched eyes; the boy tilted his head at them as the girl smiled, “You guys better hurry.”

“Haku, you're friends with a Slytherin?” Lily asked to which the girl blinked and looked to her companion.

She nodded. “Yes, Luka and I have known each other since we were babies, same for his brother Loki. Why?”

“Considering their conversation, I'm guessing they're worried about their friend Severus,” the boy Luka said, “So something involving him?”

Severus frowned. “I said I don't need a babysitter.”

Lily shook her head and looked at him. “No, but considering what you said before you need a friend in Slytherin House.”

“You can't be serious.”

“No, I am,” Sirius piped up automatically getting a snort from James and a groan from Remus.

Peter blinked, “I don't get it.”

“I have friends in Slytherin,” Severus started and Sirius had to bite his tongue to keep from making a comment.

“Never hurts to make more friends,” Luka said and offered a hand to Severus, “Luka Gabriel, it's a pleasure to meet you.”

Severus hesitated but took the boy's hand, narrowing his eyes. “If you say so, Luka Gabriel.”

“There, now that introductions are out of the way,” “Haku” said and pulled out a pocket watch, “We all have two minutes to run from here to our next classes lest we be late on our first day.”

Someone swore loudly, hard to tell which, and they ran off as fast as their legs could carry them. It was an affair of flailing arms and panting forms; Sirius had noticed Peter not with them and looking back he saw the chubby boy struggling to keep up. He cursed under his breath and went back, grabbing onto the other boy's arm and shouting, “Come on, come on, come on!”

“L-l-leave m-me,” Peter wheezed but Sirius' grip tightened instead and he tried to drag Peter along faster, refusing to leave him behind.

He didn't notice the way he was stared at, not by Peter and not by the strange silver haired girl who had incidentally slowed before grabbing Peter's other arm. She spoke, “Looks like you need help.”

“Heave-hoooo!” Sirius shouted as if she hadn't spoken and moved to try to toss Peter forward, give him some more momentum and hopefully get him a good jumpstart; she moved in unison and Peter was sent stumbling then rolling, yelling in fright as he scurried past Remus and Severus, by Luka and Lily and finally outpaced James who had been leading the pack up to that point. It was quite the sight but James cried out and grabbed hold of the terrified boy before he could run into a wall and redirected him so they were headed towards the stairs instead.

Sirius laughed a deep laugh and then turned to “Haku”, offering his hand; she seemed surprised for a moment but ultimately seemed to get it and smiled, taking it. There was something familiar here too, lost in memories locked still. But instead of thinking he dragged her along, ready for their second class of their first year and whatever else might come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Wow I'm updating a lot XD Honestly it's because I can write anywhere now but also ideas. We'll just have to see how long this lasts, hopefully for a while~
> 
> Anyhooo I made a realization while writing this and that will go into the next chapter. As for this one, I mainly just wanted to set up the first day of school for them as well as touch on something a few of you lovely reviewers noted. I will continue to drop hints of Severus' home life until it finally comes out properly, which might take some time considering it doesn't strike me as something he'd easily talk about if ever. Just because Sirius has successfully forced his way into Severus' life doesn't mean he has the boy's trust yet. But he's trying and that's what's important.
> 
> Until next time though remember: kudos are love, comments are appreciated, and throw your slower friends to give them the nitro boost they need.
> 
> Bye-bi!~)


	6. Midnight Under the Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius forgets then remembers then goes off to keep company someone important. Mysterious events happen but only in the sidelines.

The first three days went by with relative ease and little trouble; Severus eventually got sleep, Lily succeeded in infiltrating the Slytherin table twice, and Sirius got closer to James, Remus and Peter. Haku, Hakumei, had taken to occasionally sitting with Lily during their many Gryffindor only classes, and it appeared that while Luka couldn't perfectly keep Lucius and the other older Slytherin from trying to drag Severus into things, as he too got dragged in, at least it seemed to keep the boy from being left alone with them too often. Or at least that's how Sirius felt about it. Teachers were met, homework was assigned, and James succeeded in his first prank when he managed by some miracle to convince the school poltergeist Peeves to follow the ever ancient Professor Binns around and hide his quills. Things were so peaceful that Sirius honestly started to forget about some of the darker things in his memories. Until the night of September fourth.

Everyone else was asleep. Peter snored, James was drooling on his pillow, the other boys who occupied their dorm were deep in dreamland and not a soul among them stirred. Save for Sirius; he had been awake the whole time, since they all crawled into bed about an hour and a half earlier, laying in bed with his thoughts and concerns. After a long day in classes, it was the first day of Flying classes and James had proven his excitement was not unwarranted; a large dinner, some good conversation among friends, but one of them had been missing. Remus, who had gone to the infirmary after dinner with reassurances it was just a chronic illness he occasionally dealt with. James and Sirius were both unwilling to simply let him go, and even Severus who had only slowly been really opening to the group seemed unconvinced by the idea of not making sure he was okay. But the boy had told him it was okay, he would be to bed soon, they should all rest after their long day; Sirius wondered if any of the others took real note of how pale and frail their friend had been the last few days, the sense of something being wrong clinging to him. And as he lay there in bed, waiting without initially meaning to, it bothered him more and more with each passing moment in which the other boy had yet to return.

Finally he pulled himself out of bed with a frown; Remus said he would be back but he wasn't. And it wasn't like Sirius forgot about what the boy was but he hadn't expected this to happen this early; did it last time? This year was such a blur of thoughts, he wasn't sure he remembered anything concrete. He glanced out the window though, trying to check the sky and while doing so could have sworn he heard the sound of someone in pain, howling to the moon.

The boy frowned and his mind started to turn. This was bad, at least in his opinion; his friend was out there suffering but Headmaster Dumbledore had set things up so Remus could be there in the first place. Sirius couldn't recall when the Marauders were supposed to find out Remus' secret but he doubted it was the very first night that it happened at Hogwarts. Going to sleep was impossible, he didn't like the idea of Remus being alone in the Shrieking Shack, screaming and suffering, waiting for the sun rise so he could change back and then have to go through it again later. It didn't seem fair and while he knew he couldn't stop the transformations, nothing could do that, he wanted to at least help ease the pain and loneliness. His body itched again and he looked at his hands. What had his Animagus form been created for? Sirius rushed out of the dorm and down the stairs, keeping an eye and an ear out for any prefects or teachers.

Shifting was as easy as breathing for him he found, something that both pleased him and when compared to how Remus had to be feeling was a bittersweet thought. An older boy patrolled the common room but didn't seem to take note of the small furry creature that ran along the shadows, padding along until he reached the doorway at which point Sirius turned back long enough to get outside. His heart raced both in good ways and bad, the exhilaration of being free and the single-mindedness of standing by Remus' side. He shook out his body, thinking in the corner of his mind that still he had fur, and he started down the stairs.

The school at night had a totally different feel to it than in the day with the sun out and voices all about. In the shadows and chill of night the only voices were that of the paintings who whispered and crept about from frame to frame, the only light that of moonlight filtering from windows down corridors; it was hard for the eleven year old to see, trying to make sure he didn't trip or miss a step on the ever-changing, ever-moving Grand Staircase. Instinct told him to change but he had the sense that trying to get down the stairs in his smaller furry form could be challenging and dangerous, even if he would be able to see better in the darkness with his canine eyes. All it would take it a single misstep, a small trip and he would go tumbling and potentially die or at least suffer severe injuries. And there would be no one to find him or heal him so late at night save the teacher patrolling and who knew where he would land. It was enough to make him shudder but dwelling on his potential death was not helping anyone, especially not Remus, and he needed the abilities of his dog form right now.

“No risk no reward,” he muttered to himself and took a deep breath before shifting back.

The world seemed a lot brighter now, maybe not as vibrant but he could see where things were for the most part and that was the important part. He started running, paw over paw, taking note of each step and the way the world moved. He took note of how different his thoughts felt; they were less complex, not quite dumb but there was less to distract him. He thought of Remus and the moon and he knew what was important here; he saw the way the world moved and he leapt as the stairs started to move away from the landing he was on, barely making it. Scrambling to pull himself up the pup shook and started downwards again. Despite his concerns earlier he seemed to actually have pretty good balance; his body move easily, as easily as if he had always been a dog, everything by instinct and muscle memory.

He caught sight of a light as he got to the lower levels, something shiny in the corner; his ears perked and he sniffed at the air. Something familiar, a friend, but his friends were all supposed to be asleep except for Remus, yet he knew that this was someone he knew. Looking about he caught sight of something white flowing in the distance, or was it silver; it shone in the darkness, a contrast that was there one minute then was gone along with the light and his nose twitched. Silver, who did he know who was silver; he knew two people with silver, only one was a friend.

Focus, he told himself and growled before starting off again. That could be dealt with later; for now he had a more important mission. Remus was waiting and he needed to get to the other Gryffindor, be there for him, help him. The others couldn't change yet; eventually they'd learn the secret too and then they'd take the time to learn but until then Sirius was the only one. Poor Remus, alone and in pain.

He was nearly noticed by Hagrid once he got inside but managed to run into some foliage to avoid the half-giant. The night air wasn't too bad, his fur kept him warm and he could hear all sorts of animals all over the place; a rabbit ran by and he thought of chasing it, he wanted to chase it. Run around, bark, howl; he saw the moon and remembered his mission again. Maybe he wasn't completely without distraction after all; he didn't think terribly much but his animal instincts obviously did more than help him not trip on his own four feet. Sirius was still Sirius but he was also not himself completely, partially him and partially something else; he couldn't let himself lose focus so much, not when he could hear the howl from far away calling out to him.

Following his nose, and his memories, he found his way to the location of a smaller version of a tree that his memories assured him he would know well soon enough. The transplant seemed annoyed by the new surroundings and as always it thrashed about in response; there was no sign of anyone and sniffing about again he caught two scents. One that led forward and stayed, the other had left back towards the school a while ago it seemed; the only one that mattered was the first. That was Remus, it had to be Remus, he was sure it was Remus. He moved towards the tree, and to the tunnel he knew to be under it; a branch flailed towards him and he jumped aside with a yelp to avoid being hit. He growled at the tree and it shook in anger at him. Not very nice of it but he wasn't going to let it win.

He did not normally do this, he knew that much; the memories of how this worked involved a grey rat, or a well-meaning half-kneazle. He was usually big, a big shaggy black dog, but he was small now, a little pup with padding paws and a squeaky bark. The branches tried to smack him again but he jumped again and ducked, scrambling forward only to have another branch try and block the way. He growled and snapped at it, biting hard and making the tree recoil as if in pain; likely was pain, Whomping Willows were as sentient as plants got in a “hates all life on the planet and in the sky and will beat you to death” sort of way. Letting go before it could lift him off the ground, he took the opportunity while it was distracted to get into the tunnel and touch the knot, finding it easily enough. The branches didn't completely freeze as slow to a crawl, as if intoxicated; the underground roots were lethargic in their moves and Sirius crawled through, glad he managed to get through without being hurt. Now to get to the main event.

What waited on the other end was not Remus though the sense that this was some sort of monster was missing at the same time. In many ways it was a wolf, though the differences were hard to ignore: the shorter snout, the humanoid aspects of the body, the eyes that watched the dog with human intelligence but had no recognition of him or of anything. This being, the werewolf, howled and growled, lashing about; Sirius could see new wounds and knew these would stay forever, one his arms, legs, chest. How would Remus explain that to the others? How did he explain it the last time around? Sirius didn't know or understand but he crawled forth and approached the creature his friend had become.

Remus growled at him but didn't attack, didn't seem interested in harming him; he struck at himself inside and as his claws came at his face Sirius acted again on instinct, though less that of the dog and more of the boy. He grabbed onto Remus' arm and growled, trying to stop him; Sirius' form was smaller by at the very least half but still small. He tried not to bite, just jump onto the arm and hold it back from making contact with Remus' skin. The werewolf seemed startled and upset though he lashed out at the walls instead, leaving large gashes in his wake; he growled more, bristled at the small dog, and Sirius stood his ground though there was a fear inside him. Primal, animalistic; Remus was bigger and stronger in this form, but Sirius refused to let him do more damage to himself than necessary.

He sat and barked again, tail wagging. Remus seemed suspicious of this, or at least that's how Sirius saw it; the werewolf moved at him but he didn't respond, standing his ground and watching him carefully. Werewolves were naturally aggressive towards humans but not normally animals, an inversion of the nature of true wolves; this he remembered, a thought that gave him a form of comfort as he was approached. A growl from Remus was matched with a growl from Sirius; his ears twitched and the other Gryffindor let out a low howl, less an aggression and more a comment. He was trying to talk, Sirius vaguely understood but it was like two people using different dialects of the same language. The sensation was the same but it took more to properly decipher what was being said to him. The werewolf form of Remus was curious if the little dog before him was a friend, whether there to hurt him or keep him company. He wanted to fight, he wanted to hunt, but he did not see reason to fight or hunt the little furry being not terribly different than him.

 _Friend_ , barked Sirius; _Definitely friend._ Remus had told him in the future that there was no real memory of who he really was as a werewolf, but he never liked to go into details. And Hogwarts would only say so much about lycanthropy. Watching the werewolf seem to settle down when told he was a friend and not an enemy, even the simpler sensibilities of a dog made him curious to hear what the werewolf did believe of himself. Or maybe it was especially because he was currently a dog that he wanted to ask.

 _Who are you?_ Sirius inquired in the sounds of his current species; this made Remus tilt his head in confusion.

 _I am me,_ he whined and curled his tufted tail around his body; _I am what I am._

A philosophical answer that Sirius was both too tired and too much a dog right now to really be willing to try to think on too much. He got up and got closer to Remus, sniffing; he smelled like his friend, though wild and dangerous. Blood mixed with everything else. He could see wounds, scratches and bite marks born of that night from before he appeared. His tail hung low and he looked up at Remus, growling. _Why are you injured?_

 _Because I wish to hunt but cannot. Because I am filled with need but cannot let it loose. Because I feel pain and suffering but have nowhere to direct it but against my own self. My fangs and claws must be good for something._ There was something sad to the way the werewolf spoke, his words buried in the way he howled, still more of conversation than anything else.

 _Pain is no good,_ Sirius agreed and got up onto his hindlegs best he could so he could reach one of the especially nasty looking new injuries on Remus' shoulder. He sniffed at it; the scent of blood was so strong, overwhelming really, that he felt like he was drowning in it. But he was mainly concerned because werewolf form or not, able to remember who he is or not, Remus was still deep down Remus and he was Sirius' friend.

The blood tasted weird to him but it occurred to Sirius that that was likely more to do with being not used to such a thing and less to do with something particular about Remus' blood specifically. He felt the werewolf fidget and ask what he was doing but Sirius assured him it was just cleaning the wound. It was the opposite for becoming a lycan too, Remus' saliva in Sirius' wound; there was no risk this way, at least he was pretty sure. Well, he was already doing it; they would just need to see what happened from here.

He got used to the taste after a while though it wasn't exactly pleasant still; after that wound was dealt with he tended to other ones and Remus allowed it, sitting there as the small dog crawled all over his body in an attempt to clean the wounds. They would never really completely healed, he knew that; they didn't need to fully heal, just keep him from bleeding all over the place and safe until morning came and Remus would be able to turn back. It was only as that crossed his mind that he realized a few small dilemmas: he didn't really want to leave the werewolf alone but it would likely for the best that he leave before daybreak so he could sneak back into bed without being noticed. In addition as the night went on and he took to playing with Remus after tending to his wounds, keeping the werewolf's mind occupied away from everything else, it became more and more clear that he was going to be exhausted after tonight. He had not gotten any sleep before coming out, he was not going to get any sleep during the day certainly with classes and everything. Of course Remus would be in the same boat so they could be sleepless buddies but then he might need to explain why he hadn't gotten any sleep. Did eleven year olds get insomnia? Would Madame Pomfrey get pissed if he pretended to take a sleeping potion at night? Maybe the infirmary could be helpful but that was for the daylight hours.

Remus chased him under a broken table that looked like it had already been like that before the night started; the werewolf growled but Sirius stayed and barked playfully, teasing his friend. A clawed paw came at him but he playfully nipped at it and got another growl in response. The paw swatted, he did the same, careful not to be scratched or hurt. Not that he thought Remus would try to hurt him anyway but one couldn't be too careful when playing with a young werewolf.

The two canine transformations played like this, Sirius leading him about to keep him occupied, the werewolf following suit and crashing about, for a time until suddenly Remus stopped. Sirius did as well, concerned until he looked by instinct towards the broken ceiling. The sky was changed, the moon was gone, and behind him he heard the most heartrending, vile screams of pain he had could remember. It was unimaginable what kind of things Remus had to feel, how much it hurt to have bones twist and skin move, muscles shrink and move back into their true places; the process was not fun to watch and yet he couldn't exactly tear his eyes away, as if coerced into witnessing this painful experience so he might get closer to understanding the things Remus went through, the person the boy was. It was difficult to watch though and when finally it ended, in a slow, excruciating state, Remus fell to the ground and lay there. If not for his heightened senses being able to pick up his breathing Sirius would have almost thought his friend dead.

He also heard footsteps and immediately ran to find a hiding place; as the semi-familiar form of Madam Pomfrey came in, zeroing in on the barely moving boy, Sirius took his chance to escape, rushing through the tunnel and back past the tree. Remus opened his eyes, feeling ill though that was normal for him; what was was the sense of being weirdly content from his wolf form and he spoke meekly, “Where's the dog?”

Back on the grounds Sirius crawled out from under a stunned Whomping Willow. And his eyes met that of Headmaster Dumbledore who watched him carefully; Sirius' ears twitched and he got the strangest sensation, like the far older man saw the truth in him. But no, that couldn't be, that would be impossible; Headmaster Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and Sirius scurried off, making his way towards the castle. He had to get back, he had to make sure to make it to the common room and back into the dorm; Remus was safe with the nurse, safer than he was with Sirius, but him? He had to make sure no one found out the truth or even suspected it, not while he still couldn't give a good explanation that didn't involve the unusual truth. Yet the headmaster's gaze lingered in the animagus' mind and he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more there than just curiosity over a stray dog running around.

He tried to get up the stairs but it was far harder for his shorter legs to go upstairs than it had been to get down. Stubborn as Sirius was though he kept trying and going, growling softly as he took each step; it was slow, it was annoying, and he felt more exhausted than playing with Remus had been. But determination and singlemindedness drove him forward.

“You look like you could use some help.” He didn't recognize the voice and the puppy looked about before feeling himself being picked up and carried; he struggled, uncertain of what was going on or why he was being carried. He looked up but the one carrying him was wearing a hood that made it hard to see what was under it; what Sirius could see though was a small shiver of a crystal hanging from around their neck, seeming to shimmer with it's own dim light. He stared at it with fascination which made the figure chuckle some and before he knew it was set down again. The figure leaned down to pat his head, breaking Sirius from his daze; he growled softly, only getting another chuckle and they straightened up.

“You should be more careful next time,” they said before turning to leave, “There may not always be individuals in the night, or early morning as it is, who can help a lost pup like you.”

Sirius watched them walk back down the stairs, sitting there in mild confusion. Upon realizing that he had been left near Gryffindor Tower his heart rate went up a bit but he didn't really think he had the time to dwell on that right at the moment. Or on anything; he quickly got back into the common room and to the dorms, changing back and settling into bed for the time being. Sleep was not a chance but at least he had plausible deniability about where he had been. Yawning the boy closed his eyes and decided that maybe though he could get a little nap in before the morning really started; that definitely sounded nice...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (So this wasn't quite as long as the other chapters and I feel it wasn't as good as I initially wanted it. Still I did my best and I tried and I feel that should matter. Please. Don't hate me TwT
> 
> I did a lot of research on werewolves for this. What do they look like? How do they act? Would a dog and a wolf be able to communicate reasonably? Could Sirius technically drink Remus' blood without ill effect? The answers lay within this chapter. In addition I started my attempts to hint at other stuff going on with our two mysterious figures and we'll see in time where that leads. But until then we just have hints.
> 
> More shall happen later, I didn't want to do much more on this chapter because otherwise it would be too long. But I promise we'll see more shenanigans with the others next chapter. Until then remember: kudos are love, comments are appreciated, and werewolves just want friends.
> 
> Bye-bi!~)


End file.
